Perfume (UK /ˈpɜr.fjuːm/ US /pərˈfjuːm/; French: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent."Perfumes have been known to exist in some of the earliest human civilizations, either through ancient texts or from archaeological digs.