different between rotten vs sour

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

English

Alternative forms

• sower, sowre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sour, from Old English s?r (“sour”), from Proto-West Germanic *s?r, from Proto-Germanic *s?raz (“sour”), from Proto-Indo-European *súHros (“sour”). Cognate with West Frisian soer, Dutch zuur (“sour”), Low German suur, German sauer (“sour”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian sur, French sur (“sour”), Faroese súrur (“sour”), Icelandic súr (“sour, bitter”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sa?(?)?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sa??/
• Rhymes: -a??(?)
• Rhymes: -a?.?(?)

Adjective

sour (comparative sourer, superlative sourest)

1. Having an acidic, sharp or tangy taste.
   • 2018 May 16, Adam Rogers, Wired, "The Fundamental Nihilism of Yanny vs. Laurel":

     A few types of molecules get sensed by receptors on the tongue. Protons coming off of acids ping receptors for "sour." Sugars get received as "sweet." Bitter, salty, and the proteinaceous flavor umami all set off their own neural cascades.

2. Made rancid by fermentation, etc.

3. Tasting or smelling rancid.

4. (of a person's character) Peevish or bad-tempered.
5. (of soil) Excessively acidic and thus infertile.

6. (of petroleum) Containing excess sulfur.

7. Unfortunate or unfavorable.
8. (music) Off-pitch, out of tune.

Antonyms

• (petroleum): sweet

Derived terms

• go sour
• sourly
• sourness

Translations

Noun

sour (countable and uncountable, plural sours)

1. The sensation of a sour taste.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

2. A drink made with whiskey, lemon or lime juice and sugar.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

3. (by extension) Any cocktail containing lemon or lime juice.
4. A sour or acid substance; whatever produces a painful effect.
5. The acidic solution used in souring fabric.

Derived terms

• laundry sour

Translations

Verb

sour (third-person singular simple present sours, present participle souring, simple past and past participle soured)

1. (transitive) To make sour.

2. (intransitive) To become sour.
   • 1720, Jonathan Swift, To Stella, on transcribing my Poems

     So the sun's heat, with different powers, / Ripens the grape, the liquor sours.

3. (transitive) To spoil or mar; to make disenchanted.
   • He was prudent and industrious, and so good a husbandman, that he might have led a very easy and comfortable life, had not an arrant vixen of a wife soured his domestic quiet.

4. (intransitive) To become disenchanted.

5. (transitive) To make (soil) cold and unproductive.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

6. To macerate (lime) and render it fit for plaster or mortar.
7. (transitive) To process (fabric) after bleaching, using hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid to wash out the lime.

Derived terms

• besour
• unsour

Translations

Anagrams

• Ruso, ours

French

Adjective

sour (feminine singular soure, masculine plural sours, feminine plural soures)

1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of sûr

Preposition

sour

1. (nonstandard) Alternative form of sur

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English s?r

Alternative forms

• sower, soure, sowre

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su?r/

Adjective

sour

1. sour, acidic, bitter
2. foul-smelling, rancid
3. fermented, curdled
4. unpleasant, unattractive

Descendants

• English: sour
• Scots: sour

Etymology 2

From Old French essorer.

Verb

sour

1. Alternative form of soren (“to soar”)

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) sora

Etymology

From Latin soror, from Proto-Indo-European *swés?r.

Noun

sour f (plural sours)

1. (Puter, Vallader) sister

Coordinate terms

• (in terms of gender):
  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader) frar
  • (Puter) frer