Solvent

A solvent (from the Latin solvō, “loosen, untie, solve”) is a substance that dissolves a solute (a chemically distinct liquid, solid or gas), resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. In perfumery, there are two distinct uses of solvents: the first is simply to dilute something to make it- for example- less strong in odor. The second use is for extracting the odoriferous part of a plant through a technique called volatile solvent extraction. In this case, the oils of the plant will be extracted through dissolution into the solvent.