rot

Inherited from Middle English roten, rotten, from Old English rotian (“to rot, become corrupted, ulcerate, putrefy”), from Proto-West Germanic *rotēn, from Proto-Germanic *rutāną (“to rot”).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rŏt IPA^(key): /ɹɒt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɑt/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (Standard Southern British, General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɹɔt/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɾɔt/
• Homophone: wrought (cot–caught merger)
• Rhymes: -ɒt

rot (third-person singular simple present rots, present participle rotting, simple past and past participle rotted)

1. (intransitive) To suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria.

   The apple left in the cupboard all that time had started to rot.

   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:

     Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot, / To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.

2. (intransitive) To decline in function or utility.

   Your brain will rot if you spend so much time on the computer, Tony!

3. (ambitransitive) To (cause to) deteriorate in any way, as in morals; to corrupt.
4. (transitive) To make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes.

   to rot vegetable fiber

5. (intransitive, figurative) To spend a long period of time (in an unpleasant place or state).

   to rot in prison

   to rot in Hell

   If I hadn't rotted in bed all day I would've come...

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

     Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Book of Snobs:

     Rot, poor bachelor, in your club.

6. (transitive) To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.
7. (dated, slang) To talk nonsense.
   • 1894, H. G. Wells, The Hammerpond Park Burglary:

     “Did they hang you well?” said Porson.
     “Don’t rot,” said Mr Watkins; “I don’t like it.”

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, chapter III, in The Liar, London: William Heinemann, →ISBN, page 26:

     Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang. ‘I say, you fellows, here's a rum go. Old Biffo was jolly odd this morning. He gave me a lot of pi-jaw about slacking and then invited me to tea. No rotting! He did really.’

8. (transitive, slang, imperative) Damn; blast.
   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     "Oh rot yer!" exclaimed Fank, with a sudden flare of passion that at least carried with it the dignity of a genuine emotion; "I've had just abart enough of you and your blinkin' game, Toady Joolby. Here, I'd sooner smash the bloody thing, straight, than be such a ruddy mug as to swallow any of your blahsted promises […] "

• putrefy
• molder

rot (countable and uncountable, plural rots)

1. The process of becoming rotten; putrefaction.
2. Decaying matter.
   • 2016, Nathanael Johnson, Unseen City, →ISBN, page 115:

     When a turkey vulture detects the scent of rot, it circles down, tracing the plume of chemicals to its source.

3. (chiefly in compounds) Any of several diseases in which breakdown of tissue occurs.
   • 1658–1663, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     His cattle must of rot and murrain die.

5. (uncountable) Verbal nonsense.

   You're talking rot! I don't believe a word.

• (nonsense): See also Thesaurus:nonsense

• ORT, OTR, RTO, TOR, TRO, Tor, ort, tor

From Dutch rot, dialectal form of rat.

• Audio:

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rot (plural rotte)

1. rat

• muis

• rout, ruat, ròt, röts

From Middle High German rōt (“red, red-haired”), from Old High German rōt (“red, scarlet, purple-red, brown-red, yellow-red”), from Proto-Germanic *raudaz. Cognate with German rot, Dutch rood, English red, West Frisian read, Danish rød.

rot

1. (Formazza) red

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

From Latin ructus.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈrot]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ot

rot m (plural rots)

1. belch

   Synonym: eructe

• rotar

• “rot”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “rot”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

• IPA^(key): /rɔt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: rot
• Rhymes: -ɔt
• Homophone: Rott

From rotten.

rot (comparative rotter, superlative rotst)

1. rotten, spoiled, decayed, putrid
2. rotten, tedious, unkind, mean

Declension of rot
uninflected	rot
inflected	rotte
comparative	rotter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		rot	rotter	het rotst het rotste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	rotte	rottere	rotste
	n. sing.	rot	rotter	rotste
	plural	rotte	rottere	rotste
definite		rotte	rottere	rotste
partitive		rots	rotters	—

rot n (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)

1. rot (process of becoming rotten; putrefaction)

From Middle Dutch rotte.

rot f (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)

1. (dialectal, Northern) alternative form of rat

From Middle Dutch rote. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

rot n or f (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)

1. (military) a file (of men)
2. (obsolete) multitude, band, throng

   Synonyms: drom, massa, menigte, schare

• tor

Inherited from Latin ructus.

• IPA^(key): /ʁo/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Homophones: rhô, ros, rôt

rot m (plural rots)

1. (colloquial) belch, burp

   Synonyms: éructation, renvoi

   • 2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule [The End of Eddy], Le Seuil:

     Des habitudes, des façons de se comporter qui m'avaient façonné et qui pourtant, déjà, me semblaient déplacées — comme les habitudes de ma famille : se promener nu dans la maison, les rots à table, les mains qui n'étaient pas lavées avant le repas.

     Habits and ways of behaving which had moulded me, and yet already seemed inappropriate to me – like the way my family would walk around the house naked, burp at the table, not wash their hands before a meal.

• roter

• “rot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

From Latin ruptus.

rot (feminine rote)

1. broken

• rote

• rompi
• roture

• roth (obsolete)

From Middle High German rōt (“red, red-haired”), from Old High German rōt (“red, scarlet, purple-red, brown-red, yellow-red”), from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ-.

Compare Low German root, rod, rot, Dutch rood, English red, West Frisian read, Danish rød.

• IPA^(key): /roːt/, [ʁoːt(ʰ)], [roːt]
• IPA^(key): [ɣoːtʰ] (colloquial; used by some natives)

• Audio:

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• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oːt

rot (strong nominative masculine singular roter, comparative röter or roter, superlative am rötesten or am rotesten)

1. red (colour)
2. (politics, relational) red (pertaining to Marxism in the widest sense: social democratic, socialist, communist)
   1. (politics, Germany, in particular, relational) of the social democratic SPD or the more rigidly socialist Linke
3. (possibly mildly offensive) red-haired
4. (historical, possibly offensive) redskin; Native American; Indian

• (red-haired): rothaarig
• (redskin): rothäutig

• Rot, röten, Röte, Röteln, Rötung, rötlich
• Roter m (“Marxist/communist”)

• “rot”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “rot” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “rot” in Duden online
• “rot” in OpenThesaurus.de
• rot on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

• IPA^(key): /rɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt

rot n (genitive singular rots, no plural)

1. unconsciousness, insensibility

• rota

See rotna.

rot n (genitive singular rots, nominative plural rot)

1. rot, decay, putrefaction

• rotna
• rotinn
• rota

rot (German Low German)

1. alternative spelling of root

rot

1. alternative form of rote (“root”)

rot

1. alternative form of roten (“to rot”)

A back-formation from roten (“to rot”).

• rote, root, rotte, rott

• IPA^(key): /rɔt/, /rɔːt/

rot (uncountable)

1. Rotting or decomposition; the situation where something rots.
2. Any disease which causes decaying and decomposition in humans.
3. A disease that afflicts sheep; footrot, the rot.

• English: rot

• “rō̆t, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 February 2019.

From Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

rot m or f (definite singular rota or roten, indefinite plural røtter, definite plural røttene)

1. root (part of a plant normally below ground level)
2. root (of a tooth)
3. root (of a hair)

rot

1. imperative of rote

• “rot” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ruːt/

From Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. Akin to English root.

rot f (definite singular rota, indefinite plural røter, definite plural røtene)

1. root (of a plant)
2. root (of a tooth)
3. root (of a hair)

• gulrot
• kvadratrot
• kålrot
• rotfrukt

From Old Norse rót.

rot n (definite singular rotet, uncountable)

1. a mess, untidiness, chaos

   Det er for mykje rot på loftet. Me må rydda.

   The attic is a mess. We have to tidy it up.

   Når me prøver å samarbeida med dei, blir det berre rot.

   When we try working with them, it just turns into chaos.

• “rot” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• ort, Tor, tor, tro

From Proto-West Germanic *raud.

rōt

1. red

• Middle Dutch: rôot
  • Dutch: rood
    • Afrikaans: rooi
    • Jersey Dutch: rôi
    • Negerhollands: rooi, ro, roo, rood
    • Skepi Creole Dutch: aro
  • Limburgish: roead

• “rōt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

• IPA^(key): /roːt/
• Rhymes: -oːt

rōt (comparative rōtra, superlative rōtost)

1. glad, cheerful
2. noble, great

From Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ-.

rōt

1. red

• Middle High German: rōt
  • Alemannic German: rot, rout, ruat, ròt, röts (Italian Walser)
  • Central Franconian: rut, rot

    Kirchröadsj Ripuarian: roeëd

  • German: rot
  • Hunsrik: rod
  • Luxembourgish: rout
  • Mòcheno: roat
  • Pennsylvania German: rot
  • Vilamovian: rut
  • Yiddish: רויט (royt)

From Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts.

rōt f

1. root

• Swedish: rot

From Middle High German and Old High German rōt, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz. Compare German rot, Dutch rood, English red.

rot

1. red

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɔt/
• Rhymes: -ɔt
• Syllabification: rot
• Homophone: rod

rot f

1. genitive plural of rota

From Old Swedish rōt, from Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

• IPA^(key): /ruːt/

• Audio (Gotland):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt

rot c

2. root; the part of a plant that anchors the plant body
3. the part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place
5. source; an underlying cause

   Kärleken till pengar är roten till allt ont.

   The love of money is the root of all evil.

6. (mathematics) of a number n, a positive number which, when raised to a specified power, yields n; the square root is understood if no power is specified

   Kubikroten ur 27 är 3.

   The cube root of 27 is 3.

   Multiplicera med roten ur 2.

   Multiply by root 2.

8. (mathematics) a zero (of a function).
9. (mathematics) a designated node in a tree.
10. (mathematics) curl; a measure on how fast a vector field rotates: it can be described as the cross product of del and a given vectorial field
11. (computing) root directory
12. (linguistics) a word from which another word is derived.

(sense 3: source):

• källa

(sense 5: zero of a function):

• nollställe

(sense 1: root):

• rotvälta (“windthrow”)
• på rot (“standing; as it is”)

(sense 1: root):

• ört (“herb”)

• rötter
• rota (sig)

• “rot”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)

• Tor, ort, tro

From English road.

rot

1. road, street
   • '2003, Mühlhäusler et al., Tok Pisin texts, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 9:

     Planti liklik rot i stap long ailan hia.

     Many little roads exist on this island.

2. passage
   • 2019 February, Angela Kelly-Hanku, Stephen Andrew Bell, Sophe Ase, Ruthy Neo, Andrew Vallely, Steve Badman, Claire E. Nightingale, Johanna Wapling, “Developing a culturally appropriate illustrated tool for the self-collection of anorectal specimens for the testing of sexually transmitted infections: lessons from Papua New Guinea”, in BMC Public Health‎^[2]:

     In the original illustration in Fig. 1, the word ‘anus’ is referred to in stages 7–10 of the illustrated tool. The most anatomically correct description for the anus in Tok Pisin, ‘rot bilong pekpek’ literally translates to ‘the passage belonging to faeces’.

3. means, method, way
   • 2003, anonymous author, Wastaua‎^[3]:

     Tasol brata i lukautim miting inap kirapim tingting bilong ol brata sista long tingim ol samting em stadi i stori long en long rot bilong kamapim sampela askim moa.

     However, the one conducting a meeting may occasionally draw out those in attendance and stimulate their thinking on the subject by means of supplementary questions.

• rot bilong karim pikinini (“vulva”)
• rot bilong pekpek (“anus”)

Tok Pisin texts: from the beginning to the present / edited by Peter Mühlhäusler, Thomas E. Dutton, Suzanne Romaine. / John Benjamins Publishing Company / Copyright 2003 / →ISBN / page 106

From Italian rata (“installment”).

• Audio:

  (file)

rōt f (plural rota)

1. installment (a kind of payment)

From Middle High German ratte, from Old High German ratta, perhaps from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz (“rat”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to gnaw, scrape, scratch”).

• rott

rot

1. rat