Sours

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Changes taste or smell to a sharp or stale quality ; causes a substance or situation to become unpleasant or acidic ; shifts to a negative or problematic state
2. Develops a sour flavor or smell, often from spoilage ; makes something lose its freshness or cause discomfort ; becomes unfavorable or causes tension
3. Gains a tart or spoiled characteristic ; brings about a state of unwelcome change ; deteriorates or creates difficulties in circumstances

Etymology: "Sours" is simply the third-person singular form of the verb "sour" and the plural of the noun, so its story is the story of "sour" itself. The adjective goes back to Old English "sūr", which meant sour in taste and could also describe something gone off or spoiled, and it sits in a Proto-Germanic family whose cognates include German "sauer" and Dutch "zuur". The most striking link is with cheese. Slavic languages reconstruct a root behind words like Polish "ser" and Czech "sýr", meaning cheese, along with Russian "syroj", meaning raw, and Old Church Slavonic "syrŭ", meaning moist or cheese. That root shares an ancestor with the English word, pointing to a Proto-Indo-European idea of something fermented, moist, or unprocessed. English kept the sense of sharp taste, while the Slavic branches attached the root to the dairy product that results from souring milk.

Synonyms: acid, tartness, sharpness

Antonyms: sweet, pleasant