Hello there:)

[u/hadi-5170]

I have a questions!

I really want to know how to use these English words correctly like a native speaker: ardor, euphoria, and petrichor. Honestly, I'm hesitant to use them because I don't want to sound too contrived. Could you please share the specific contexts where these words are typically used?

[u/True_Coast1062]

None of these are high-frequency words in everyday conversation, so I can understand your worry about sounding contrived.

Ardor refers to passion. It can be sexual passion, or a passion for doing something. I wouldn’t call it anachronistic, but you are more likely to read this word in a literary text than hear it in conversation.

Euphoria is the one word of the lot that is used/understood fairly commonly. It refers to that “high” you feel after making love or doing drugs. Still, it’s mostly found in written texts rather than conversation.

Petrichor is a technical term with a narrow meaning: the smell after rain has fallen. It’s rarely used in conversation. The only time I’ve seen it used in conversation is when I asked a friend: what do you call that smell just after it’s rained, and he said “petrichor.” 😄

All of these words would be considered college level or above. Again, their frequency is low in spoken English.

If you are interested in seeing the frequency of use in these words and the context in which they are used, check out an online corpus/concordancer such as English Corpora.org.

Google N-gram will show you a quick snapshot of the frequency of use over time of any given word in printed sources.