Main Difference
The main difference between Perfume and Musk is that the Perfume is a mixture used to produce a pleasant smell and Musk is a component of perfumes.
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Perfume
Perfume (UK: , US: ; 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 an agreeable scent.
It is usually in liquid form and used to give a pleasant scent to a person’s body.
Ancient texts and archaeological excavations show the use of perfumes in some of the earliest human civilizations. Modern perfumery began in the late 19th century with the commercial synthesis of aroma compounds such as vanillin or coumarin, which allowed for the composition of perfumes with smells previously unattainable solely from natural aromatics alone.
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Musk
Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. Musk was a name originally given to a substance with a strong odor obtained from a gland of the musk deer. The substance has been used as a popular perfume fixative since ancient times and is one of the most expensive animal products in the world. The name originates from the Late Greek μόσχος ‘moskhos’, from Persian ‘mushk’, ultimately from Sanskrit मुष्क muṣka meaning “a testicle”, from a diminutive of मूष् mūṣ (“mouse”). The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. It is applied to various plants and animals of similar smell (e.g. muskox) and has come to encompass a wide variety of aromatic substances with similar odors, despite their often differing chemical structures and molecular shapes.
Natural musk was used extensively in perfumery until the late 19th century when economic and ethical motives led to the adoption of synthetic musk, which is now used almost exclusively. The organic compound primarily responsible for the characteristic odor of musk is muscone.
Modern use of natural musk pods occurs in traditional Chinese medicine.
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Perfume (noun)
A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor
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Perfume (noun)
A substance created to provide a pleasant smell or one which emits an agreeable odor.
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Perfume (verb)
To apply perfume to; to fill or impregnate with a perfume; to scent.
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Musk (noun)
A greasy secretion with a powerful odour, produced in a glandular sac of the male musk deer and used in the manufacture of perfumes.
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Musk (noun)
A similar secretion produced by the otter and the civet.
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Musk (noun)
A synthetic organic compound used as a substitute for the above.
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Musk (noun)
The odour of musk.
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Musk (noun)
The musk deer (genus Moschus).
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Musk (noun)
The musk plant (noshow=1).
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Musk (noun)
A plant of the genus noshow=1 (noshow=1); the musky heronsbill.
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Musk (noun)
A plant of the genus Muscari; grape hyacinth.
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Musk (noun)
The scent of human genitalia when aroused or unwashed.
“I was so excited I could smell my own musk.”
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Musk (verb)
To perfume with musk.
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Perfume (noun)
a fragrant liquid typically made from essential oils extracted from flowers and spices, used to give a pleasant smell to one’s body
“musk-based perfumes”
“I caught a whiff of her fresh lemony perfume”
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Perfume (noun)
a pleasant smell
“the heady perfume of lilacs”
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Perfume (verb)
give a pleasant smell to
“just one bloom of jasmine has the power to perfume a whole room”
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Perfume (verb)
impregnate with perfume or a sweet-smelling substance
“the cream is perfumed with rosemary and iris extracts”
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Perfume (verb)
apply perfume to
“her hair was oiled and perfumed”
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Musk (noun)
a strong-smelling reddish-brown substance which is secreted by the male musk deer for scent-marking and is an important ingredient in perfumery.
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Musk (noun)
a relative of the monkey flower, formerly cultivated for a musky fragrance which has been lost in the development of modern varieties.