rotten English · revision 39469

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=a1250, Ancrene Riwle|origins=non rotinn}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈɹɒtn̩/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈɹɑtn̩/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|roten]],^(MED)^(AHD 2024) apparently [[bor|non|rotinn|t=decayed]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Gersum) which looks like the past participle of a lost Germanic strong verb; the related weak verbs include [[m|non|rotna|t=to decay]] and the Old English verb that gave [[rot]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Gersum) The OED compares [[sv|rutten]] and [[da|rådden]].^(OED 2026) Skeat connected the lost verb with an older sense "to soak".^(Skeat 1911) The MED suggests that Middle English forms in ''ō'' were influenced by the verb ''roten'', "to rot".^(MED)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of flesh, the body or other animal material: decomposed, putrid: a1250, in the ''Ancrene Riwle''.^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates it to before 1300 and Etymonline to about 1300.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the late 14th century the word spread from animal matter to plants, wood and food,^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026) and in the same period it took on the figurative sense "morally or politically corrupt", recorded in Wycliffite writing in 1395, the sense of Shakespeare's "something is rotten in the state of Denmark".^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) Chaucer uses ''roten'' ten times.^(GCME) Later it was applied to soft, boggy ground (?1440), crumbling rock (1566) and, first in North America, to ice that is melting and full of holes (1684).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In Scotland and northern England it could describe wet, rainy weather.^(Wright 1898)^(HTOED) The weakened sense "bad, unpleasant, wretched" appears around 1880, in Stevenson's letters (1881) according to Barnhart, and the adverb ''rotten'' as an intensifier, as in ''spoiled rotten'', in Mark Twain the same year;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) Green's Dictionary of Slang has an adverbial ''rotten'' in American speech from 1809.^(GDoS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1250 – of animal matter, decomposed.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1382 – of plants, food and wood, decayed.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1395 – morally or politically corrupt.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * ?1440 – of ground, too soft or loose.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1500 – the verb ''rotten'', to rot (now dialectal).^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1566 – of rock, crumbly.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1684 – of ice, melting and unsound.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1809 – adverb, as an intensifier, in American slang.^(GDoS)

+ * 1881 – bad, nasty, in Stevenson.^(Barnhart 1988) The intensifying adverb, as in ''spoiled rotten'', appears in Mark Twain.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Decayed or [[decompose|alt=decomposing]], especially so as to be unfit to eat or use: ''rotten fruit'', ''a rotten fence post''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Morally despicable or [[corrupt]]; dishonest or treacherous.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (informal) Very bad or unpleasant: ''We had rotten weather all week.''^(Collins 2023)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ # (informal) Of poor quality; incompetent: ''a rotten cook''.^(Collins 2023)

+ # (informal) Feeling ill, or upset and ashamed: ''I feel rotten about missing your party.''^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of rock, ice or ground: soft, crumbling or unsound.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # (informal) Extremely; very much, as in ''spoiled rotten''.^(GDoS)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[rottenly]]

+ * [[rottenness]]

+ * [[rottenstone]]

+ * [[unrotten]]

+ * [[rotten borough]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rot]]

+ * [[ret]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}