Festre

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To suppurate, as a wound does when it becomes infected and fills with pus ; to rankle and grow more bitter over time through unresolved resentment
2. Of a sore, to generate pus from infection ; of a grievance or anger, to worsen steadily and eat away at a person inwardly
3. To become septic and discharge matter when a wound is infected ; to gnaw at the mind and intensify bitterly when a grievance is left unaddressed

Etymology: Before it named a sore, this word's Latin ancestor, "fistula," meant a pipe or reed. The Romans used the term for a tube, and the medical sense of a narrow, channel-like abscess grew out of that physical image. The line passed through Old French, where the form became "fistre," and Middle English then borrowed it as "festre" for an ulcer or running sore. English later reshaped the noun. The modern verb "fester," meaning to suppurate or to grow foul over time, comes from this noun, and the sense of something harmful spreading unseen came with it. The noun itself has mostly dropped out of everyday use, leaving the verb as the form most readers meet.