Word of the Day

Friday March 26, 2010

fetor [FEE-tuhr; FEE-tor]

noun

Here is a market scene in Bangkok: "This is the raw, cutting odor of the jungle, the gash of the tropics, the fetor of equatorial darkness, the essence of everything Western civilization glosses over, dyes and tries not to think about."

John Murawski, "Ripe look at fruit", News & Observer, Jul 6, 2008
In her world, springtime stinks of poop: Outside the windows of her shop, the organic chicken litter trucks are spreading jet-black goo on the fields and wafting a fetor that she appreciatively calls, as if she's describing a wine's bouquet, "a little acid-y, a little gassy, a little green."

Darragh Johnson, "Follow Your Nose; In Spring, Outdoors Is One Big Scratch-and-Sniff Bonanza" Washington Post 24, 2007
He knew that he fell stiffly where he stood. He was blinded by light and deafened by sound and his nostrils were filled with the nauseating fetor of jungle and decay.

Murray Leinster (1896 - 1975) An American science fiction writer. Operation Terror (1962)

Origin of the Word

Fetor , approximately 1400, derives from Middle English fetoure, from Latin foetor, from foetere, "to stink."