Stynkynge

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. Giving off a strongly offensive odor, like a rotting carcass or a filthy drain, as this archaic Middle English form describes
2. Emitting a foul, repugnant smell that offends the nose, the way the older spelling of this participle describes in medieval texts
3. Characterizing something that releases a nauseating, unpleasant odor, an archaic form used in Middle English writing

Etymology: Stynkynge is a Middle English spelling of the present participle and verbal noun of "stinken," the verb that gave modern English "stink." Its Old English ancestor was "stincan," which originally meant simply to emit a smell, good or bad, and only gradually narrowed to the foul sense. The "-ynge" ending is the Middle English form of the suffix that later became "-ing," so this spelling sits at the point where the verb's form was still being settled. The root word is much older than the spelling. "Stincan" belongs to a Germanic family whose members meant to smell or to give off a vapor, and the sense of unpleasantness came later as a specialization. Modern English keeps a faint trace of the older neutral sense in the verb "stench," which in Old English could also mean any strong odor.

Synonyms: reek, smell, pong, whiff

Antonyms: fragrant, perfumed