Etymologically
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stink

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Pronunciation

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
  • 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