different between foul vs rotten

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: foul, IPA^(key): /fa?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l
• Homophone: fowl
• Rhymes: -a??l

Etymology 1

From Middle English foul, from Old English f?l (“foul, unclean, impure, vile, corrupt, rotten, guilty”), from Proto-Germanic *f?laz (“foul, rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“to rot”). Cognate with Dutch vuil (“foul”), German faul (“rotten, putrid”), Danish and Swedish ful (“foul”), and through Indo-European, with Albanian fëlliq (“to make dirty”), Latin puter (“rotten”). More at putrid.

Ancient Greek ?????? (phaûlos, “bad”) is a false cognate inasmuch as it is not from the same etymon, instead being cognate to few.

Adjective

foul (comparative fouler, superlative foulest)

1. Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.

2. (of words or a way of speaking) obscene, vulgar or abusive.

3. Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II scene ii^[1]:

     […] Hast thou forgot / The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy / Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
4. Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.

5. (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
6. (of the weather) Unpleasant, stormy or rainy.
7. Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.

8. (nautical) Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.

9. (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "foul" is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.

Synonyms

• (hateful, detestable): shameful; odious; wretched

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English foulen, fulen, from Old English f?lian (“to become foul; rot; decay”), from Proto-Germanic *f?l?n? (“to rot; decay”).

Verb

foul (third-person singular simple present fouls, present participle fouling, simple past and past participle fouled)

1. (transitive) To make dirty.

   to foul the face or hands with mire

   She's fouled her diaper.

2. (transitive) To besmirch.

   He's fouled his reputation.

3. (transitive) To clog or obstruct.
4. (transitive, nautical) To entangle.
   • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 18, [2]

     The Indian's heart was sore for his boat; it looked as if nothing could save her. She was drifting more slowly now, her propeller fouled in kelp.

   The kelp has fouled the prop.

5. (transitive, basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.

   Smith fouled him hard.

6. (transitive, baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.

   Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.

7. (intransitive) To become clogged.

   The drain fouled.

8. (intransitive) To become entangled.

   The prop fouled on the kelp.

9. (intransitive, basketball) To commit a foul.

   Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.

10. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.

    Jones fouled for strike one.

Derived terms

• foul one's own nest

Translations

Noun

foul (plural fouls)

1. (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; for example, tripping someone up in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
2. (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
3. (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.

   Jones hit a foul up over the screen.

Descendants

• ? Russian: ??? (fol)

Translations

See also

• foul fish

Further reading

• foul in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• foul in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• foul at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• fluo-

German

Verb

foul

1. singular imperative of foulen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of foulen

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French fol.

Noun

foul

1. Alternative form of fole (“fool”)

Etymology 2

From Old English fugol.

Noun

foul

1. Alternative form of fowel

English

Etymology

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 *rut?n? (“to rot”). More at rot.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???tn?/, [????n?]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???tn?/
• Rhymes: -?t?n

Adjective

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.

   • 1596-99?, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 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.

3. Cruel, mean or immoral.

   That man is a rotten father.

   This rotten policy will create more injustice in this country.

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.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which “rotten” is often applied: wood, food, egg, meat, fruit, tomato, apple, banana, milk, vegetable, stuff, tooth, smell, person, kid, bastard, scoundrel, weather.

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

rotten (comparative more rotten, superlative most rotten)

1. To an extreme degree.

   That kid is spoilt rotten.

   The girls fancy him something rotten.

Anagrams

• Trento, torent

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?t?(n)/
• Rhymes: -?t?n

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch rotten, reformed from earlier roten, from Old Dutch *roton, from Proto-Germanic *rut?n?.

Verb

rotten

1. To rot, to go bad, to decay.

Inflection

Derived terms

• doorrotten
• verrotten
• wegrotten

Etymology 2

Noun

rotten

1. Plural form of rot

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?r?t?n/, [???t?n], [???tn?]
• Hyphenation: rot?ten

Etymology 1

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

Verb

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.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• zusammenrotten (remains common)

Etymology 2

From Middle High German roten, roden, from Proto-Germanic *rud?n?.

Verb

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”)

Conjugation

Derived terms

• ausrotten (remains common)

Etymology 3

From Middle Low German rotten, alteration (perhaps intensivation) of older r?ten, from Old Saxon rot?n, from Proto-Germanic *rut?n?.

Verb

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

1. To rot, to decay.

Conjugation

Usage notes

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

Synonyms

• faulen
• verfaulen

Derived terms

• dahinrotten
• verrotten

Middle English

Verb

rotten

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

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• rotta f

Noun

rotten m

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

West Frisian

Noun

rotten

1. plural of rôt