nidorous

English

WOTD – 5 December 2008

Etymology

From nidor (“the unpleasant smell of some cooked animal substances”) +‎ -ous, or from Medieval Latin nidorosus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪd.ə.ɹəs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪ.də.ɹəs/

• Audio (US):

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Adjective

nidorous (comparative more nidorous, superlative most nidorous)

1. (literary) Emitting a strong, unpleasant odor, especially one like that of cooking fat or similar greasy substances.
   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XVIII, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 163:

     ‘Taste my breath—is it not fetid, foul, and nidorous?’

   • 2002, Jamie O'Neill, chapter 10, in At Swim, Two Boys, →ISBN, page 240:

     That old man's niderous whispered breath had entered into MacMurrough's heart an insufflation of—of what, exactly?

Translations

Emitting the odor or taste of roasted meat, especially rotten meat

• Russian: палёный (ru) (paljónyj)