putrefy

English

Alternative forms

• putrify

Etymology

From Middle French putréfier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpjutɹəfaɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

putrefy (third-person singular simple present putrefies, present participle putrefying, simple past and past participle putrefied)

1. To become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance.
2. To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.
3. To become gangrenous.
4. To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous.

   to putrefy an ulcer or wound

5. To corrupt; to make foul.
   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suitors”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Private suits do putrefy the public good.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]:

     They would but stink, and putrefy the air.

Synonyms

• decay
• fester
• rot

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *puH- (0 c, 17 e)

Translations

become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance

• Bulgarian: гния (bg) (gnija)
• Maori: whakaero

to reach an advanced stage of decomposition

• Bulgarian: разлагам се (razlagam se)
• Hawaiian: hoʻohāpopopo
• Irish: morg
• Maori: whakaero, māhī, māī, whakapirau

to become gangrenous

• Bulgarian: гангренясвам (gangrenjasvam)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: pudrirse (es)

See also

• Gangrene on Wikipedia.Wikipedia