putrescent

English

Etymology

Attested since circa 1730, from Latin pūtrēscēns (“rotting”), present participle of pūtrēscō (“rot”).

Pronunciation

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• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsənt

Adjective

putrescent (comparative more putrescent, superlative most putrescent)

1. Becoming putrid; putrefying.
   • 1791, George Fordyce, A treatise on the digestion of food, page 68:

     When it is combined with that quantity of water with which it is found united in the gall-bladder, it is not more putrescent than the serum of the blood

   • 1885, Henry Stopes, Malt and malting, an historical, scientific, and practical treatise, page 48:

     This same reason accounts to a considerable extent for the fact, that soft steeping liquor, if seldom changed, becomes much more putrescent than hard water retained with the same barleys for a similar period in cistern.

   • 2009, Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, Introduction to the Study of Fungi, Their Organography,, page 132:

     although in some instances these spores are elliptical and smooth, they are often coarsely warted and angular. The group in itself seems to be a very natural one, for the species are all soft and fleshy, and even more putrescent than

Derived terms

• antiputrescent
• nonputrescent
• putrescently

Translations

becoming putrid

Chinese: Mandarin: 將腐爛的 / 将腐烂的 (jiāngfǔlànde) Japanese: 腐り掛かった (くさりかかった, kusarikakatta) Spanish: putrefacto (es)

French

Etymology

From Latin putrēscēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /py.tʁɛ.sɑ̃/ ~ /py.tʁe.sɑ̃/

Adjective

putrescent (feminine putrescente, masculine plural putrescents, feminine plural putrescentes)

1. putrescent

Further reading

• “putrescent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

putrēscent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of putrēscō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French putrescent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu.tresˈt͡ʃent/

Adjective

putrescent m or n (feminine singular putrescentă, masculine plural putrescenți, feminine/neuter plural putrescente)

1. putrescent

Declension

Declension of putrescent

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	putrescent		putrescentă		putrescenți	putrescente
	definite	putrescentul		putrescenta		putrescenții	putrescentele
genitive- dative	indefinite	putrescent		putrescente		putrescenți	putrescente
	definite	putrescentului		putrescentei		putrescenților	putrescentelor

Further reading

• “putrescent”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025