the differences between putrid, fetid, acrid, pungent, and rancid

They are each a unique unpleasant odor. We used them in the lab as precise descriptors of kinds of mercaptans, Sulfitic compounds or acidic compounds. Putrid was the smell of something dead -like cadaverine, whereas fetid is a stink unrelated to decomposition, Its like Limburger cheese or something of that neighborhood. Acrid and pungent are acidic styles of odors and rancid is a condition of spoilage and its also a smell of sour milk for example. We actually kept an acronym list called SOPARF , which was the range of oil mercaptan odors we dealt with (Sulfitic,Oniony,pungent,acrid rancid Putrid). We had numbers from 1 to 5 where 5 was a lingering deep penetrating (definitely toxic odor range). We alo had unique color charts that were assigned numbers for everything in te ground.(look up Munsell soil colors)

Farmer
You are so generous to share your knowledge!

yeh but like recipes for Golumpkis, who gives a **** .(AND those of us who've worked in petroleum chem labs would use these for beer jokes)