stink

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stinken,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English stincan (“to emit a smell (of any kind)”),^[5][6][7][8] a strong verb with the past tense “stanc” and the past participle “stuncen”.^[6][8] It is a common West Germanic word:^[5][6] cognate with Old Saxon stinkan, West Frisian stjonke, Dutch stinken, Middle Low German stinken and Old High German stinkan (modern German stinken),^{[5][6][9][10]} from Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną,^[10][7] the root also of stench.^[5][6][11] Swedish stinka and Danish stinke were borrowed from Low German.^[5] The root has the same form as Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌵𐌰𐌽 (stigqan, “to clash”) and Old Norse støkkva (“to leap, spring”),^[5][10][3] and Old English stincan also meant "to spring, leap", as when dust rose to the heavens in the “Riddles”.^[8][6] The OED and Barnhart find the connection possible but doubtful because the meanings differ so much,^[5][7] while Kroonen reconstructs a verb "to thrust, clash; to stink" and compares Latin restinguō (“to suppress”) and Lithuanian stengti (“to exert oneself”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To give off a smell of any kind: Old English, in the Corpus Glossary;^[5][8] Barnhart dates stincan before 800.^[7] Old English could say swote stincan, to smell sweet.^[6][12]

Semantic evolution

Like smell later, the verb drifted from any smell to a bad one, at first through the context to stink of something;^[12][6] the bad sense was already in Old English, in the Leechdoms, and prevailed by the mid-13th century, while the neutral sense died out after 1175.^[5][6][11] The figurative sense "to be offensive, abhorrent" appears in the Ancrene Riwle (early 13th century).^[5][6][7] The noun, a foul smell, is first recorded in 1303 in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne (figuratively) and before 1325 literally,^[5] about 1250 in Barnhart;^[7] Etymonline notes that it was used especially of body odour, decay and the fumes of Hell.^[6] The slang sense "a row, a fuss" is recorded from 1812 in Vaux's thieves' vocabulary, where a robbery that caused alarm made a great stink;^[13][6] to raise a stink is implied by 1851.^[6] Stink to high heaven is recorded by 1873,^[6] the sense "to be worthless or incompetent" from the 1920s–30s,^[6][5] and stinks as British school and university slang for chemistry or natural science from 1869.^[5][6][3]

Timeline

• before 800 – Old English stincan, to give off a smell of any kind.^[7][5]
• c. 1225 – figurative, to be offensive or abhorrent.^[5][7]
• c. 1250 – noun, offensive smell or quality.^[7][6]
• 1781 – to drive animals out of a place with fumes.^[5][6]
• 1812 – noun, a fuss or furore (slang).^[13][6]
• 1869 – stinks, school slang for chemistry.^[5][6]
• 1873 – stink to high heaven.^[6]
• 1929 – like stink, furiously.^[5]
• 1934 – to be worthless or incompetent (colloquial).^[5]
• 1956 – stink up, to make a place smell.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give off a strong, unpleasant smell: The fish market stank in the heat.^[14][3][5]
2. (informal) To be very bad, worthless or contemptible: The plot of the film stinks.^[14][3][5]
3. To be offensive or suspect; to reek of something: The deal stinks of corruption.^[3][5]
4. stink out or stink up: to fill a place with a bad smell, or drive someone out with one.^[5][3]

Noun

1. A strong, unpleasant smell; a stench.^[14][3][5]
2. (informal) A great fuss or trouble, especially in raise or make a stink.^[14][3][5]
3. like stink (British, informal): very hard or intensely.^[14][5]
4. stinks (British slang): chemistry or natural science as a school subject.^[3][5]

Word family

• stinky
• outstink
• stinkard
• stinkball
• stinkhorn
• stinko
• stinkpot
• stinkweed

Related words

• stench

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins