Mary purchased a bottle of perfume because she liked the floral and sweet scent. The scent of her perfume is the , and the feminine and romantic association she makes with the scent is the .

The scent of her perfume is the signifier, and the feminine and romantic association she makes with the scent is the signified.

Explanation:

In linguistics, the concepts of signifier and signified are seen in Saussure's theory of the sign. A sign is formed by the pair signifier/signified. Signifier is a word, an image, anything that has a material form. Signified is the meaning attributed to the signifier by an individual. That means the same signifier can have different signifieds according to the each person. For Mary, the signifier "floral perfume" presents as its signified the "feminine and romantic" feeling. To a different person -  myself, for instance -, a floral perfume does not have the same meaning. I do not see it as romantic or feminine. Instead, because the sweet smell gives me a headache, that has become my signified for it.

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