rotten

Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn (“decayed, rotten”), past participle of an unrecorded verb related to Old Norse rotna (“to rot”) and Old English rotian (“to rot”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rutōną (“to rot”). More at rot.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑtn̩/, [ˈɹɑʔn̩]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒtn̩/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒtən

rotten (comparative rottener or more rotten, superlative rottenest or most rotten)

1. Of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.

   If you leave a bin unattended for a few weeks, the rubbish inside will turn rotten.

   • 1596-99?, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I, scene iii:

     Antonio: Mark you this, Bassanio, / The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. / An evil soul producing holy witness / Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, / A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

2. In a state of decay.

   The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten.

   His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten.

3. Cruel, mean or immoral.

   That man is a rotten father.

   This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.

4. Bad or terrible.

   Why is the weather always rotten in this city?

   It was a rotten idea to take the boat out today.

   She has the flu and feels rotten.

• Nouns to which “rotten” is often applied: wood, food, egg, meat, fruit, tomato, apple, banana, milk, vegetable, stuff, tooth, smell, person, kid, bastard, scoundrel, weather.

rotten (comparative more rotten, superlative most rotten)

1. To an extreme degree.

   That kid is spoilt rotten.

   The girls fancy him something rotten.

• Trento, torent

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔtə(n)/
• Rhymes: -ɔtən

From Middle Dutch rotten, reformed from earlier roten, from Old Dutch *roton, from Proto-Germanic *rutāną.

rotten

1. to rot, to go bad, to decay

• doorrotten
• verrotten
• wegrotten

rotten

1. Plural form of rot

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔtən/, [ˈʁɔtən], [ˈʁɔtn̩]

From Middle High German roten, derived from rote (whence modern Rotte), from Old French rote, from Latin rupta.

rotten (third-person singular simple present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. (obsolete) to form into a gang, rout, squad

• zusammenrotten (remains common)

From Middle High German roten, roden, from Proto-Germanic *rudōną.

rotten (third-person singular simple present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of roden (“to clear woods, to make arable”)

• ausrotten (remains common)

From Middle Low German rotten, alteration (perhaps intensivation) of older rōten, from Old Saxon rotōn, from Proto-Germanic *rutōną. Cognate with Dutch rotten, English rot.

rotten (third-person singular simple present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. to rot, to decay

• As a simplex chiefly with certain adverbs, like vor sich hin. More common in compounds.

• dahinrotten
• verrotten

rotten

1. Alternative form of roten (“to rot”)

• rotta

rotten m or f

1. definite masculine singular of rotte

rotten

1. plural of rôt