This semantic shift is associated with the custom of nose kissing (also known as a sniff-kiss, olfactory kiss, smell-kiss, nose-rubbing, Oceanic kiss, or Eskimo kiss), common in several regions of the world. One person touches body (usually the head) of another with their nose, or two people touch noses. A nose kiss is functionally identical to the lip kiss known in European culture. It can be used as a greeting, a sign of tenderness (for example, a parent to a child), or an expression of love. Nose kisses are common in Southeast Asia, Oceania, among the Eskimos from Chukotka to Greenland, among the Mongolian peoples of Central Asia, and in regions such asthe Persian Gulf region, and Yemen (Schapper 2019, Байбурин, Топорков 1990, 49-50, Нюроп 1898, 131-134).

Inuit Kunik (Padlei, NWT, 1950. Photograph by Richard Harrington)

In many cases, lexicographic sources describe nasal kissing simply with the verb meaning 'to kiss', and only the colexification with the meanings 'to smell' and 'to sniff' indicates the type of kiss. During the process of westernization, some communities extended terms originally referring to nasal kissing to lip kissing (Mongols, some Inuit groups, Indonesians, Khmers, Shans). In other cases, nasal kissing came to be perceived as an important part of cultural identity, as oppose to the foreign practice of lip kissing (Māori hongi).

Two Māori women exchange a hongi, 1913

The Sanskrit ghrā 'to smell' became the earliest term for kissing in ancient Indian literature and subsequently became the source of terms for lip kissing in New Indian languages. In Zhuang, the lexeme cup 'to kiss' (Proto-Tai *cuːpᴰ 'to kiss (with nose)') now combines the older meaning of 'to smell' and the more recent meaning of 'to suck'.

In some communities, nasal and lip kissing are lexically contrasted, with the verb meaning 'to kiss with the lips' always colexified with the meanings 'to suck', 'to lick' or 'to drink':

- Shan nom¹ 'to smell, kiss with nose', tsup² 'to suck, kiss with lips'

- Palauan melúngel 'to smell, kiss with nose', melmótm 'to suck, kiss someone on the mouth'

- Mapun ūk 'to smell, kiss', sassop 'to suck, kiss on lips'

- Makassarese mu'musu' 'to suck on something with puckered lips; suck the contents out of something', 'kiss in the European way', njo'njo' 'to drink from something with puckered lips, drink in the manner of an animal, sip, suckle as of a child; kiss as Europeans do with puckered lips', ara' 'to smell (something), kiss'

- Kensiu ʔɔɲ 'to smell, kiss', ɟɔt 'to suck, kiss'

- Paliu mpuit.³³ 'to smell, kiss', hut.³³ 'to suck, kiss'

It is likely that nasal kissing was also initially used in ancient Egyptian culture. This is suggested by the Egyptian verb sn which means 'to smell' and 'to kiss', as well as the corresponding hieroglyph, which depicts the upper part of the face (Allen 2010, 51). However, in some contexts, this Egyptian lexeme describes actions performed with the lips (Gilmour 2025: 24, Arbøll 2025).

Graphic representation of the verb for kissing in Egyptian hieroglyphic script (Arbøll 2025)

The existence of nasal kissing in ancient Egypt is confirmed by visual sources, the earliest of which is a wall painting in the tomb of two courtiers named Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep in the Saqqara necropolis during the Old Kingdom, dating to approximately 2450 BC (Parkinson 2019; Evans & Woods 2016, Arbøll 2025). Later, depictions of lip kissing also appear, for example, on the Amarna relief depicting Nefertiti with her daughter.

Depiction from an Egyptian tomb of two courtiers standing nose-to-nose (photograph from their tomb in Saqqara)

Relief of Queen Nefertiti Kissing One of Her Daughters, ca. 1352-1336 B.C.E. Limestone, painted. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 60.197.8.

The semantic shift 'to perceive smell' > 'to kiss' is found in all regions where nasal kissing is recorded, with the exception of the Gulf States and Yemen. Notably, it is also found in two regions (West Africa and the Chaco region of South America) where, according to ethnographic data, nasal kissing is not recorded.

Ethnographic Evidence

Mutual sniffing among the Chukchi has the meaning of a kiss, as it does among many other primitive tribes. A Chukchi father, leaving his family for a while, sometimes kisses his wife, but usually presses his nose to his child's neck and inhales the scent of the child's body and clothing (Богораз 1934, 21).

Laotians […] do not practice kissing, at least not in the European way. They rub their nose against the skin of their children or their women by sniffing in a more or less noisy way. (Reinach 1911: 172)

When the Burmese kiss, they inhale at the same time, making it look as if they are smelling, an action that they call nam-cut-si or to suck in (cut) a smell (nam). (Bastian 1866 [2004]: 132):

[The tribes’ of Chittagong] mode of kissing is strange: instead of pressing lip to lip, they apply the mouth and nose to the cheek, and give a strong inhalation. In their language they do not say, “Give me a kiss;” but they say, “Smell me.” (Lewin 1869: 46)

Cambodians are ignorant of the kiss. They do not kiss, they smell, they sniff. The mother breathes in [the scent of] her child. Lovers do not take in full lips, but full nostrils. (Bourdet 1912: 481)

Mothers [in the Nicobar Islands] will naturally often kiss their babies, but their “kissing” […] consists in embracing and rubbing faces and in sniffing the child. (Whitehead 1914: 122)

With Malays to kiss is, ordinarily, to put face close to face and draw in the breath through the nose as one smells a flower. (Clifford & Swettenham 1894: 363)

…[amongst the Negritos of the Philippines] kissing ‒ perhaps I should say smelling for the Pygmy kiss […] is a kind of a sniff and a snuff made while the nose is on contact with the cheek or other part of the body but never on the lips,… (Garvan 1964: 140)

References

Байбурин А. К., Топорков А. Л. У истоков этикета. Этнографические очерки. Л., 1990

Богораз В. Г. Чукчи. Л., 1934. Т. 1.

Нюроп К. О поцелуях. Культурно-исторический очерк. СПб.: 1898.

Allen J. P., Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010

Arbøll Troels P. Ancient kiss-tory: new perspectives on the evolution of early historical kissing // Evolution and Human Behavior. Volume 46, Issue 6, November 2025, 106778

Bastian, Adolf. 1866 [2004]. A Journey in Burma (1861-1862). Singapore: White Lotus Press.

Bourdet, L. 1912. Mercure de France: (sér. Moderne): 99: 481.

Schapper Antoinette. The ethnolinguistic relationship between smelling and kissing. A Southeast Asian case study. Oceanic Linguistics, 2019, 58(1), pp.92-109. ⟨10.1353/ol.2019.0004⟩. ⟨halshs-02935662⟩

Clifford, Hugh & Frank Athelstane Swettenham. 1894. A Dictionary of the Malay language. Taiping, Perak: Government Printing Offices.

Cort, Mary L. 1886. Siam: Or, The Heart of Farther India. New York: A. D. F. Randolph & Company.

Evans L., Woods A. Further evidence that Niankhknum and Khnumhotep were twins Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 102 (2016), pp. 55-72

Garvan, John M. 1964. The Pygmies of the Philippines: Together with the Private Notes of Wilhelm Schmidt on the Above. Fribourg: Posieux.

Lewin, Thomas Herbert. 1869. The Hill Tracts of Chittagong and the Dwellers Therein. Calcutta: Bengal Printing Company Limited.

Parkinson R. “The first gay kiss?”: An ancient Egyptian monument // C. Brickell (Ed.), Queer objects, Rutgers University Press (2019), pp. 22-27

Reinach, Lucien de. 1911. Le Laos. Paris: Librairie orientale & américaine, E. Guilmoto.

Whitehead, George. 1914. In the Nicobar Islands. London: Seeley Service & Co. Limited.