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)

To become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance.
To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.
To become gangrenous.
To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous.
to putrefy an ulcer or wound
To corrupt; to make foul.
- 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suitors”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, OCLC 863521290:
  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 606515358, [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)

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Translations to be checked

Spanish: pudrirse (es)