rotten

From Middle English roten, from Old Norse rotinn (“decayed, rotten”), past participle of an unrecorded verb related to Old Norse rotna (“to rot”) and Old English rotian (“to rot”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rutāną (“to rot”). More at rot.

Morphologically rot +‎ -en.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒtn̩/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑtn̩/, [ˈɹɑʔn̩]
• Hyphenation: rot‧ten
• Rhymes: -ɒtən

rotten (comparative rottener or more rotten, superlative rottenest or most rotten)

1. Of perishable items, overridden with bacteria and other infectious agents.

   If you leave a bin unattended for a few weeks, the rubbish inside will turn rotten.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Antonio: Mark you this, Bassanio, / The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. / An evil soul producing holy witness / Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, / A goodly apple rotten at the heart. / O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

2. In a state of decay.

   The floors were damaged and the walls were rotten.

   His mouth stank and his teeth were rotten.

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], page 191:

     But poore old man, thou prun'ſt a rotten tree, / That cannot ſo much as a bloſſome yeelde

3. Cruel, mean or immoral.

   That man is a rotten father.

   This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv], page 257, column 2:

     Something is rotten in the State of Denmarke.

4. Bad or terrible.

   Why is the weather always rotten in this city?

   It was a rotten idea to take the boat out today.

   She has the flu and feels rotten.

5. Of stone or rock, crumbling or friable; in a loose or disintegrated state.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 215:

     The quartz specimens were sometimes blue, hard-looking stone, or rotten quartz largely impregnated with iron, in both cases carrying bright glittering nodules of gold.

6. (UK, Australia, slang) Very drunk, intoxicated.

rotten (comparative more rotten, superlative most rotten)

1. To an extreme degree.

   That kid is spoilt rotten.

   The girls fancy him something rotten.

   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "It's old man Challenger's show and we are here by his good will, so it would be rotten bad form if we didn't follow his instructions to the letter."

   • 1958 May, Avram Davidson, “Or All The Seas With Oysters”, in Galaxy Science Fiction‎, page 53:

     "You're not only crazy," Oscar said bitterly, "you're rotten jealous. You can go to hell." He stomped away.

• Trento, torent

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔtə(n)/
• Rhymes: -ɔtən

From Middle Dutch rotten, reformed from earlier roten, from Old Dutch *roton, from Proto-West Germanic *rotēn, from Proto-Germanic *rutāną.

rotten

1. to rot, to go bad, to decay

   Het fruit begon te rotten omdat het te lang buiten de koelkast werd gelaten.

   The fruit began to rot because it was left out of the fridge for too long.

   Het hout van de schuur is aan het rotten.

   The wood of the barn is decaying.

   Als je de melk niet koel bewaart, zal ze rotten.

   If you don't keep the milk cool, it will go bad.

• doorrotten
• verrotten
• wegrotten

rotten

1. plural of rot

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔtən/, [ˈʁɔtən], [ˈʁɔtn̩]

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rot‧ten

From Middle Low German rotten, alteration (perhaps intensivation) of older rōten, from Old Saxon rotōn, from Proto-West Germanic *rotēn.

rotten (weak, third-person singular present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. To rot, to decay.

   Synonyms: faulen, verfaulen

• As a simplex chiefly with certain adverbs, like vor sich hin. More common in compounds.

• dahinrotten
• verrotten

From Middle High German roten, derived from rote (whence modern Rotte), from Old French rote, from Latin rupta.

rotten (weak, third-person singular present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. (obsolete) To form into a gang, to rout, to squad.
   • 1788, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Egmont‎:

     Steht fest gegen die fremde Lehre und glaubt nicht, durch Aufruhr befestige man Privilegien. Bleibt zu Hause; leidet nicht, daß sie sich auf den Straßen rotten.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• zusammenrotten (remains common)

From Middle High German roten, roden, from Proto-Germanic *rudōną. See roden.

rotten (weak, third-person singular present rottet, past tense rottete, past participle gerottet, auxiliary haben)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of roden (“to clear woods, to make arable”)

• ausrotten (remains common)

• “rotten” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “rotten” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “rotten” in Duden online

rotten

1. Alternative form of roten (“to rot”)

• rotta f

rotten m

1. definite masculine singular of rotte: rat (rodent)

rotten

1. plural of rôt