fetid

adj, noun — 3 senses

fetid

adj

/ˈfɛtɪd/

Etymology Borrowed from Latin fētidus (“having offensive odour”), originally fēteō (“to stink”).

1

Foul-smelling, stinking.

I caught the fetid odor of dirty socks.
[…] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where speculation lurks in corners, and of which Madame Vauquer inhales the warm, fetid air without being nauseated.1878, Henry James, “Honoré de Balzac”, in French Poets and Novelists, London: Macmillan, II, p. 122:

1 more example

Hiro fakes toward the whorehouse, then cuts directly toward an exposed section of wall. The fabric of the building is tough, but his katana slices a six-foot rent through it with a single gliding motion, and then he's outside, spat out of the hole on a jet of fetid air.1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 285:

2

Dated, Slang Unpleasant.

"I'm not going to promise anything after the perfectly fetid way you're running off," she retorted.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

Derived terms: fetidity, fetidly, fetidness, fetid sweat
Related terms: asafoetida

fetid

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Latin fētidus (“having offensive odour”), originally fēteō (“to stink”).

1

Rare The foul-smelling asafoetida plant, or its extracts.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.