Smelling with the Ear. 闻

Wanderlust in her comment said that another Chinese character for smell is 闻 'wen' which consist of an 耳 (ěr) 'ear' inside a door 门 mén. How confusing she said, do the Chinese smell with their ear?

Ah, but she forgets that another meaning of 闻 'wen' is hear as in 新闻 (xīnwén) which is a combination of two characters 新 xīn (new) + 闻 wén hear = “new things you hear” hence “news”. This is a compound word and the majority of Chinese vocabulary are made up of them. So 闻 wén is an 耳 (ěr) 'ear' listening at the door 门 mén (which also serves as the phonetic) making it a logical explanation for hear. But I am sorry I do not have an explanation as to why it is also used to mean smell as well. Looks like the Chinese can both smell and hear with the same word.

As in English, not everything about the language is logical. There are many instances which defy logic and make learning frustrating. You will just have to use your imagination. Or some logic may have just being lost through time. But this is not a scientific language so we should not expect everything to be in perfect order. I’ll leave you with this idiom about hearing - 百闻不如一见 bǎiwén bùrú yījiàn A hundred hearings are inferior to one look.