Can you use the word "perfume" for a man?

I think technically it’s all perfume But the word “perfume” is usually just associated with women And men’s perfume is referred to as “cologne”

"Perfume" is associated strongly with femininity. That is strong enough that men worry about it. Instead, men wear cologne, fragrance, deoderant, or body-spray. They will call it anything but "perfume". This is not an inflexible rule, but it's a reasonably wide-spread hang-up.

I think there is an actual reason why they are called different things like maybe perfume has more oils in it but honestly *most people* just differentiate the two by gender. As a man, I've bought eau de toilette (another type of oil-based scented spray) and just called it cologne because it came in a cologne bottle and was labeled for men. Body spray is something totally different though and no one would call body spray cologne or perfume unless they had only smelled it on someone without seeing the bottle and assumed it was something other than body spray. Edit: I googled it and there is a difference. Perfume - 20-40% oil concentration Eau de parfum - 15-20% oil concentration Eau de toilette - 4-15% oil concentration Eau de cologne - 2-5% oil concentration Eau fraîche - 1-3% oil concentration But like I said, most people in the US will just call any of these products perfume when labeled for women and cologne when labeled for men.

There's a difference between cologne and perfume. Perfume lasts longer. As far as I know there's men's perfume too (but it's usually eau de cologne instead of eau de toilette or eau de parfum, I guess) .

Perfume is usually used for women, and cologne is usually used for men, as that's what their specific products are called. I don't know why, I vote for it all to be called perfume. It's all perfume.

So technically speaking, it's correct. Like if there's a store called "perfumes", you'd find cologne and what people think of when you say perfume (women's perfume).  But it's like how males generally get offended if you refer to their toys as "dolls". They want them to be called "action figures" or "plushies" because "dolls are for girls".  So in most instances, you're better off just referring to man-perfume as "cologne". 

UK, for men, it's aftershave. Even if it has nothing to do with shaving. Any fragrance is called aftershave. Scent is also acceptable. Cologne isn't so common here - most people know what it is, but I don't hear it often. For whatever bizarre throwback reasons, men almost never call it perfume.

I know perfume as just perfume, there’s women’s perfume and men’s perfume but it’s all stupid, it’s smells… I wear any kind I like (that’s vegan and cruelty-free of course), regardless of which binary gender they want to say it’s for

Yes, we generally call all scents that men apply *cologne* or possibly *aftershave* (if associated with shaving). We would generally not say that a man wears *perfume*.

I think it depends much, here in Brazil, we use perfume and colônia, which literally translates to perfume and cologne, but we generally use both perfume for men and women. Cologne is also popular but much less than perfume, and cologne refers to man's perfume.

Weirdly enough, my husband told me yesterday that he had the same conversation with a friend from USA. My husband and I are from South America and we use perfume and colonia as different things. Perfume is stronger. And that is true for men or women. So while what we will translate what he wears most days as aftershave or cologne, we would translate what he wears other days (finer products) as parfum or perfume. His (female) friend from USA was surprised and told him that they called everything for men as "cologne".

I’m from the US and to me perfume and cologne are gendered terms. It’s understood that perfume would refer to scents intended for women and cologne is intended for men. A gender neutral word would be fragrance. Asking if someone wears perfume is asking if they wear women’s fragrance. Particularly sensitive people might get offended at the question. But I have met men who wear perfume and women who wear cologne. I saw some other comments from the UK refer to aftershave to mean cologne. To me aftershave is a separate product than cologne. It’s a cleanser product that can be scented. But it isn’t a direct replacement for cologne.

i mean some men wear perfume and some women wear cologne, but generally women wear perfume and men wear cologne. i don't really understand the difference between the two, though. seems like they're both just scented sprays.

Yes. English is weird. A lot of our words have gendered "connotations" like "purse" or "dress." You can still say whatever you like but it's good to have these gendered things in mind.

I’m a native English speaker and my friends and I just use “fragrance” instead of perfume/cologne since it’s gender neutral.

You can use perfume as an adjective, but typically as a noun it's cologne. "I can tell he loves his cologne. He's perfumed every time I see him"

*Cologne* is the preferred term for men's fragrance in casual conversation. There are also technical terms that denote the concentration of the oils in a fragrance, regardless of intended gender. These terms are French, but will appear on most bottles of fragrance, regardless. The concentration affects how the scent is applied, how often, and how much. * *Eau Fraiche* \- 1-2% * *Eau de Cologne* \- 2-5% * *Eau de Toilette* \- 5-15% * *Eau de Parfum* \- 15-20% * *Parfum* \- 20-30%

Everyone wears perfume but mainly ladies. Aftershave/cologne is guys.

So, it’s cologne, right?

It’s just different % of the product. Perfume has a higher % (20-30%) cologne only has ( 2-4%)

while technically perfume and cologne refer to the formula of a scent, in regular speech it's true that perfume= women and cologne = men

Cologne usually for men, perfume for women, I might be weird but sometimes I spray my wife's perfume on my shirt cause I like the smell lol

it is absolutely a kind of perfume. Theres a feminine connotation but cologne is factually perfume. Deodorant is also perfumed

Cologne. Just make sure you pronounce it correctly because colon is where your poop comes from.

I think you’d have to check the scent industry or review the technical term to understand what is actually true. However in layman’s terms - regular people talking, (USA) men wear cologne and women wear perfume.

Usually men wear cologne, but some men certainly do wear perfume. It would usually be seem as more feminine, so it's not very common.

Sort of. In general, men tend to wear cologne, while women tend to wear perfume, but there are differences that are rather important to know. Perfume is a higher concentration than cologne (20% vs 2%). Perfume also tends to consist of more feminine smells than colognes for men. That being said, although more rare, there are masculine perfumes and feminine colognes as well. There are also people who don't buy either but make something new. I (a man) tend to prefer using scented oil to offset my smell by either mixing a touch in when showering or using very small amounts. Additionally, different products may already be scented. My deodorant, for example, is a speedstick with "sweat activated scent" something or other. I don't actually know how well it works, but people seem not to mind me as much after working out when I use it. It's not enough for me to smell, and the activation (if it actually does anything) would be to slow for me to notice. I would already be used to the smell by the time I was done working out. This is a cologne, a light smell that helps to offset another smell. Now, there are also cases where a perfume may be used for very specific purposes. A male hunter may attempt to use a perfume to mask his scent, intentionally choosing the stronger of the scents. If you wanted to really sell a good fib, you may use a perfume to do so (such as campfire if you were claiming to have been camping all weekend, when you were really playing Monster Hunter).

You could if they were actually using a perfume. But most men tend to use colognes instead of perfumes. I know they do the same thing (put a scent on people) but if you go to the shops you'll see that they are marketed as 2 different things, with the perfume scents tending to be of things that are more associated with women and the cologne scents tending to be things more associated with men. When my partner puts his cologne on me, then I am wearing cologne. But if I was to get a perfume and wear that I would say I'm wearing perfume

There are actual technical differences of like the composition. Perfume is more common for women and cologne is more common for men but nothing is gonna happen if a dude wears perfume

In the UK they’re traditionally quite strictly gender specific. Men wear aftershave or cologne and women wear perfume. If a standard bloke told his mates down the pub that he’d bought himself a new perfume he’d get a barrage of mockery.

Perfume definitely has a female connotation, not really sure of the reason. For men we always use Cologne. If a native speaking man were to say “Im wearing perfume”, I would assume he is wearing a perfume designed for women.

It isn't because it is wrong in English. It comes from toxic masculinity. People are afraid of being thought gay for wearing perfume. But eau de toilette, eau de perfum, and cologne are just intensity of the scent (how much concentration or perfume is in the scent), so people should get over the cologne vs perfume thing. They are ALL perfume. I like what another commenter said. Just say "fragrance" and it will be gender neutral.

In America, the perfume men wear is referred to as “cologne”, but it’s still perfume. I’d bet it started as a marketing ploy to sell perfume to men.

Yeah I’m Canadian and I exclusively use cologne when speaking about men’s scents and perfume for women’s. I would never ask a guy what perfume he’s wearing, it just doesn’t sound correct. Same if someone asked me (a woman) what cologne I was wearing, I would think it’s strange.

If I hear "He wears perfume." I would genuinely think he is using lady's perfume and not just any sort of scented body spray.

Kinda funny that English is a 99% non-gendered language but then we have cases like this, and similar cases such as, "executor," vs, "executrix."

We have associated different smells with the words cologne and perfume. Cologne is typically more masculine smelling (woody smells) and perfume is typically more dainty (floral smells and such)

I think everyone generally refers to everything for men as cologne (even though most of the times it’s actually either eau de toilette or eau de parfum) and perfume for women (even if it’s eau de toilette, eau de parfum, perfume). I do know the difference but I also speak French - most people do not know the difference and wouldn’t understand me if I say it in French.

cologne, prononounced coll-ohn

If a man was wearing a scent for women, it'd be perfume still, but scents designed for men are typically all cologne.

Generally, yes, but people will tell you that's because "cologne and perfume are two different products" despite the fact there really isn't much difference at all besides what scents you're more likely to find. The difference is basically just which word is printed on the label. However, if a guy bought a bottle labelled "perfume" and used it, it would still be right to say he's wearing perfume 

I'm a native English speaker from Canada. The technical term for the type of fragrance doesn't matter in casual conversation — if it's meant to be worn by a man it's cologne, and if it's meant to be worn by a woman it's perfume. My brother is really into fragrances and even he will call them all "cologne" in everyday speech.

Wow, interesting! I learned a new thing!

That's generally true: cologne for men, perfume for women, at least in the US.

Yes , to describe that the/a man is wearing a woman's fragrance.

It definitely sounds strange to me (Wales, United Kingdom). Not so strange that I wouldn't know what you were saying, but it definitely has feminine connotations. I would personally say 'aftershave' is the more commonly-used term in the UK, but 'cologne' is fine too.

Yeah, your friend is generally right. What’s weird about it is that most men’s fragrances are labelled “parfum” (at least in the UK), because France. It’d be more common to say “aftershave” for men’s fragrances in the UK though, cologne would make sense, but people would think you’re fancy.