Word of the Day

Sunday September 13, 2009

fetid [FET-id; FEE-tid]

adjective

Native to the Japan Sea, wakame has now spread to the Mediterranean and elsewhere along European coastlines, and to New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, where the fetid smell of rotting kelp has kept beachgoers from parts of the coast.

Malia Wollan, "An Underwater Fight Is Waged for the Health Of San Francisco Bay", New York Times, Aug 2, 2009
After a two-year drought and after a whole bunch of idiotic misuse and mismanagement dating back decades, the once-mighty Euphrates River is turning into a fetid trickle of warm sewer water. In short, it's drying up.

Kurt Ullrich, "It's a dry fact: The end is near", Telegraph - Herald, Jul 30, 2009
A slight indisposition, then an hour of fever, then the hideous delirium, then--the Yellow Death! On the street corners, and in the squares, lay sick men, suddenly overtaken by the disease; and even corpses, distorted and rigid. Food failed. Meat spoiled in a few hours in the fetid and pestiferous air, and turned black.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) American author and humorist. Life On The Mississippi Part 6 (1883)

Origin of the Word

Fetid, approximately 1599, derives from Latin fetidus, foetidus "stinking," from fetere "have a bad smell, stink."