rot

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) IPA^(key): /ɹɒt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹɑt/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ɹɔt/
• 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: Printed for 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. (transitive, intransitive) 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).

   to rot in prison

   to rot in Hell

   • 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volumes (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.’

• putrefy

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:

  (file)

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]
• Rhymes: -ot

rot m (plural rots)

1. belch

   Synonym: eructe

• rotar

• “rot” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “rot”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

• 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, something rotten, something rotting

From Middle Dutch rotte.

rot f (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)

1. (dialectal, Northern) Alternative form of rat

From Middle Dutch rote.

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:

  (file)

• Homophones: rhô, ros, rôt

rot m (plural rots)

1. (colloquial) belch, burp

   Synonyms: éructation, renvoi

   • 2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule, 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]

• Audio:

  (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
• “rot” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “rot” in Duden online
• “rot” in OpenThesaurus.de
• rot on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

rot

1. Alternative spelling of root

• IPA^(key): /rɔːt/
• Rhymes: -ɔːt

rot n (genitive singular rots, no plural)

1. unconsciousness, insensibility

Declension of rot
n-s	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	rot	rotið
accusative	rot	rotið
dative	roti	rotinu
genitive	rots	rotsins

• rota

See rotna

rot n (genitive singular rots, nominative plural rot)

1. rot, decay, putrefaction

Declension of rot
n-s	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	rot	rotið	rot	rotin
accusative	rot	rotið	rot	rotin
dative	roti	rotinu	rotum	rotunum
genitive	rots	rotsins	rota	rotanna

• rotna
• rotinn
• rota

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 2019-02-24.

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)

Historical inflection of rot indefinite singular definite singular indefinite plural definite plural Aasen1 Rot Roti Røter Røterna 1901 røter (røtar) røterne (røtane) 1917 rota, roti røter [røtter] røtene2 [røttene] 1938 rota [roti] røter røtene 2012 (current) rot rota røter røtene Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard. Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier. Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen. 1Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century. 2Form was allowed for schoolchildren as of 1910.

• 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

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

• 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/

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

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

   Kärleken till pengar är roten till allt ont.

   The love of money is the root of all evil.

4. (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.

5. (mathematics) a zero (of a function).
6. (mathematics) a designated node in a tree.
7. (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
8. (computing) root directory
9. (linguistics) a word from which another word is derived.

• källa (3)
• nollställe (5)

• rotvälta (1)

• ört

• rötter
• rota (sig)

• rot in Svensk ordbok.

• 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.

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)