stench

Contents

English

Etymology

From Middle English stench, from Old English stenċ (“stench, odor, fragrance”), from Proto-Germanic *stankwiz (“smell, fragrance, odor”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewg- (“to push, hit”). Cognate with Dutch stank (“stench, odor”), German Stank, Gestank (“stench, odor, smell”), Danish stank (“stench”), Swedish stank (“stench”), Icelandic stækja (“stench”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛntʃ

Noun

stench (plural stenches)

1. a strong foul smell, a stink
2. (figuratively) a foul quality

   the stench of political corruption

3. (obsolete) A smell or odour, not necessarily bad.
   • Dryden

     Clouds of savoury stench involve the sky.

Synonyms

• (disagreeable smell): stink, pong (Commonwealth)

Antonyms

• (disagreeable smell): aroma, fragrance, perfume

Derived terms

• stenchy

Translations

a strong foul smell, a stink

• Albanian: duhmë (sq)
• Arabic: نَتَانَة‎ f (natāna)
• Armenian: գարշահոտություն (hy) (garšahotutʿyun)
• Basque: kirats (eu)
• Belarusian: смуро́д m (smuród), вонь f (vonʹ)
• Bulgarian: смрад (bg) m (smrad), во́ня (bg) f (vónja)
• Catalan: pudor (ca) f, tuf (ca) m, ferum f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 惡臭 (zh), 恶臭 (zh) (èchòu), 臭 (zh) (chòu), 腐臭 (zh) (fǔchòu), 臭氣 (zh), 臭气 (zh) (chòuqì), 臭味 (zh) (chòuwèi)

• Czech: zápach (cs) m, smrad (cs) m
• Danish: stank (da)
• Dutch: stank (nl) m
• Esperanto: fetoro (eo)
• Finnish: löyhkä (fi), lemu (fi)
• French: puanteur (fr) f
• Galician: tufo m, cheiro (gl)
• German: Gestank (de) m
• Greek: μπόχα (el) f (bócha)

  Ancient: δυσωδία f (dusōdía), δυσοσμία f (dusosmía)

• Hungarian: bűz (hu)
• Ilocano: danuor
• Irish: tuth f, bréantas m, bréine f, mosar f, drochbholadh m
• Italian: fetore (it) m, puzza (it) f
• Japanese: 悪臭 (ja) (あくしゅう, akushū), 臭い (ja) (におい, nioi), 臭気 (ja) (しゅうき, shūki), 臭味 (しゅうみ, shūmi)
• Latin: paedor m, foetor m
• Latvian: smārds m

• Macedonian: смрдеа f (smrdea), ре́а f (réa), смрад m (smrad)
• Maori: piro, pirau, haunga, kehakeha, pūhonga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stank m

  Nynorsk: stank m

• Persian: گند‎ (fa) (gand)
• Polish: fetor (pl) m, smród (pl) m
• Portuguese: fedor (pt)
• Romanian: duhoare (ro) f, putoare (ro) f
• Russian: вонь (ru) f (vonʹ), смрад (ru) m (smrad), злово́ние (ru) n (zlovónije)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: смра̑д m, во̑њ m

  Roman: smrȃd (sh) m, vȏnj (sh) m

• Slovak: zápach m, smrad m
• Slovene: smrad (sl) m, vonj (sl) m
• Spanish: hedor (es) m, fetidez (es) f
• Sudovian: smardas m
• Swedish: stank (sv) c
• Tagalog: bansiw
• Turkish: koku (tr)
• Ukrainian: сморі́д m (smoríd), вонь f (vonʹ)
• Volapük: lusmel
• Walloon: flaireur (wa) f
• Yiddish: געסרחה‎ f (gesrokhe)

metaphorically, a foul quality

Verb

stench (third-person singular simple present stenches, present participle stenching, simple past and past participle stenched)

1. (obsolete) To cause to emit a disagreeable odour; to cause to stink.

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

2. To stanch.

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

---

Middle English

Alternative forms

• stunch, stinnch, stenche, stynche, stinche, stænc

Etymology

From Old English stenċ, from Proto-Germanic *stankwiz. Conflated with Old English stynċ, from Proto-Germanic *stunkwiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɛntʃ/, /stintʃ/, /stuntʃ/

Noun

stench (plural stenches)

1. A stench; a displeasing or repulsive smell.
2. Something which causes or has such a repulsive smell.
3. The smell of the fires of hell (thought to be of sulphur)
4. The smell or odour of sinfulness or iniquity.
5. (rare, Early Middle English) A smell or scent (good or bad).

Derived terms

• stenchen

Descendants

• English: stench
• Scots: stench, stinch

References

• “stench (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-24.