putrefy

English

Alternative forms

putrify

Etymology

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 fester or rot and exude a fetid stench.
To become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance.
To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.
- 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 14:
  In the Middle Ages, for instance, a recipe for sex stimulation required the putrefied flesh of a human corpse, together with both human and animal testes and ovaries, pimento, and alcohol.
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:
  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

Derived terms

Translations

to fester or rot and exude a fetid stench

Ukrainian: тухнути impf (tuxnuty), протухати impf (protuxaty), протухнути pf (protuxnuty)

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

Bulgarian: гния (bg) (gnija)
Māori: whakaero
Ukrainian: гноїтися impf (hnojitysja), загноюватися impf (zahnojuvatysja), загноїтися pf (zahnojitysja)

to reach an advanced stage of decomposition

Bulgarian: разлагам се (razlagam se)
Hawaiian: hoʻohāpopopo
Irish: morg
Māori: whakaero, māhī, māī, whakapirau
Tamil: அழுகு (ta) (aḻuku)
Ukrainian: гнити impf (hnyty), згнивати impf (zhnyvaty), згнити pf (zhnyty)

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)