Putrefaccioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which dead animal or plant matter rots and breaks down through the action of bacteria and fungi
2. Decomposition of organic material into foul-smelling substances as microorganisms consume and break down the dead tissue
3. The rotting of flesh or other organic matter caused by microbes, producing gases and a putrid odor as it breaks down

Etymology: "Putrefaccioun" is Middle English, the spelling used by writers like Chaucer's contemporaries in the late 1300s and 1400s, and it comes from Old French "putrefaction," which took it from the Latin "putrefactio." That Latin noun was built from the verb "putrefacere," meaning "to make rotten," combining "putris" (rotten, decayed) with "facere" (to make or do). So the word literally describes the act of making something rot. English borrowed the term for the process of organic matter breaking down, and that physical sense is still its core. Medieval writers often used it in medical and natural-philosophy contexts, where the decay of flesh and the spoiling of humours were central concerns. The same root "facere" appears in many English words, such as "factory" and "fact," which share the idea of something made or done.