# rot
## English
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle English roten, rotten, from Old English rotian (“to rot, become corrupted, ulcerate, putrefy”), from Proto-West Germanic *rotēn, from Proto-Germanic *rutāną (“to rot”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rŏt IPA: /ɹɒt/
* (General American) IPA: /ɹɑt/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: /ɹɔt/
* Homophone: wrought (cot–caught merger)
* Rhymes: -ɒt

### Verb

rot (third-person singular simple present rots, present participle rotting, simple past and past participle rotted)
* (intransitive) To suffer decomposition due to biological action, especially by fungi or bacteria.
    The apple left in the cupboard all that time had started to rot.
** 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot, / To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.
* (intransitive) To decline in function or utility.
    Your brain will rot if you spend so much time on the computer, Tony!
* (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) deteriorate in any way, as in morals; to corrupt.
* (transitive) To make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes.
    to rot vegetable fiber
* (intransitive, figurative) To spend a long period of time (in an unpleasant place or state).
    to rot in prison
    to rot in Hell
    If I hadn't rotted in bed all day I would've come...
** 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.
** 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, The Book of Snobs:Rot, poor bachelor, in your club.
* (transitive) To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.
* (dated, slang) To talk nonsense.
** 1894, H. G. Wells, The Hammerpond Park Burglary:“Did they hang you well?” said Porson. “Don’t rot,” said Mr Watkins; “I don’t like it.”
** 1991, Stephen Fry, chapter III, in The Liar, London: William Heinemann, →ISBN, page 26:Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang. ‘I say, you fellows, here's a rum go. Old Biffo was jolly odd this morning. He gave me a lot of pi-jaw about slacking and then invited me to tea. No rotting! He did really.’

#### Synonyms

* putrefy

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

rot (countable and uncountable, plural rots)
* The process of becoming rotten; putrefaction.
* Decaying matter.
** 2016, Nathanael Johnson, Unseen City, →ISBN, page 115:When a turkey vulture detects the scent of rot, it circles down, tracing the plume of chemicals to its source.
* (chiefly in compounds) Any of several diseases in which breakdown of tissue occurs.
** 1658–1663, John Milton, Paradise Lost:His cattle must of rot and murrain die.
* (uncountable) Verbal nonsense.
    You're talking rot! I don't believe a word.

#### Synonyms

* (nonsense): See also Thesaurus:nonsense

#### Translations
### Derived terms

* Alabama rot
* Armillaria root rot
* Barcoo rot
* bed rot
* bit rot
* bitter rot
* black rot
* brain-rot
* brain rot
* brown rot
* cotton root rot
* crotch rot
* data rot
* disc rot
* disk rot
* dry rot
* dry-rot
* fin rot
* foot rot
* gambler's rot
* gut rot
* heart rot
* Java black rot
* jungle rot
* knob rot
* laser rot
* linkrot
* liver rot
* mushroom root rot
* noble rot
* pelt rot
* pizzle rot
* potter's rot
* red rot
* ring rot
* root rot
* rot-13
* rot away
* rot gut
* rot in hell
* rot me
* rot-proof
* rot-steep
* rot through
* sap rot
* shoestring root rot
* soft rot
* software rot
* star rot
* Texas root rot
* tommy-rot
* URL rot
* violet root rot
* wet rot
* wet-rot
* white rot
* wood-rot

### Anagrams

* ORT, OTR, RTO, TOR, TRO, Tor, ort, tor

## Afrikaans
### Etymology

From Dutch rot, dialectal form of rat.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

rot (plural rotte)
* rat

#### See also

* muis

## Alemannic German
### Alternative forms

* rout, ruat, ròt, röts

### Etymology

From Middle High German rōt (“red, red-haired”), from Old High German rōt (“red, scarlet, purple-red, brown-red, yellow-red”), from Proto-Germanic *raudaz. Cognate with German rot, Dutch rood, English red, West Frisian read, Danish rød.

### Adjective

rot
* (Formazza) red

### References

* Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

## Catalan
### Etymology

From Latin ructus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈrot]
* Rhymes: -ot

### Noun

rot m (plural rots)
* belch
    Synonym: eructe

#### Related terms

* rotar

### Further reading

* “rot” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “rot”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

## Dutch
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rɔt/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: rot
* Rhymes: -ɔt
* Homophone: Rott

### Etymology 1

From rotten.

#### Adjective

rot (comparative rotter, superlative rotst)
* rotten, spoiled, decayed, putrid
* rotten, tedious, unkind, mean

##### Derived terms

* rot-
* rothumeur
* rotkop
* rotvaart

#### Noun

rot n (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)
* rot, something rotten, something rotting

### Etymology 2

From Middle Dutch rotte.

#### Noun

rot f (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)
* (dialectal, Northern) Alternative form of rat

##### Derived terms

* landrot
* oude rot
* zeerot

### Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch rote.

#### Noun

rot n or f (plural rotten, diminutive rotje n)
* (military) a file (of men)
* (obsolete) multitude, band, throng
    Synonyms: drom, massa, menigte, schare

### Anagrams

* tor

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin ructus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʁo/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: rhô, ros, rôt

### Noun

rot m (plural rots)
* (colloquial) belch, burp
    Synonyms: éructation, renvoi
** 2014, Édouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule [The End of Eddy], Le Seuil:Des habitudes, des façons de se comporter qui m’avaient façonné et qui pourtant, déjà, me semblaient déplacées — comme les habitudes de ma famille : se promener nu dans la maison, les rots à table, les mains qui n’étaient pas lavées avant le repas.Habits and ways of behaving which had moulded me, and yet already seemed inappropriate to me – like the way my family would walk around the house naked, burp at the table, not wash their hands before a meal.

#### Related terms

* roter

### Further reading

* “rot”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Friulian
### Etymology

From Latin ruptus.

### Adjective

rot (feminine rote)
* broken

#### Derived terms

* rote

#### Related terms

* rompi
* roture

## German
### Alternative forms

* roth (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle High German rōt (“red, red-haired”), from Old High German rōt (“red, scarlet, purple-red, brown-red, yellow-red”), from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ-.
Compare Low German root, rod, rot, Dutch rood, English red, West Frisian read, Danish rød.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /roːt/, [ʁoːt(ʰ)], [roːt]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -oːt

### Adjective

rot (strong nominative masculine singular roter, comparative röter or roter, superlative am rötesten or am rotesten)
* red (colour)
* (politics, relational) red (pertaining to Marxism in the widest sense: social democratic, socialist, communist)
** (politics, Germany, in particular, relational) of the social democratic SPD or the more rigidly socialist Linke
* (possibly mildly offensive) red-haired
* (historical, possibly offensive) redskin; Native American; Indian

#### Synonyms

* (red-haired): rothaarig
* (redskin): rothäutig

#### Hyponyms

* blassrot
* blutrot
* dunkelrot
* feuerrot
* hellrot
* karminrot
* kupferrot
* orangerot
* rosarot
* rostrot
* rubinrot
* scharlachrot
* tiefrot
* tomatenrot
* weinrot

#### Derived terms

* Rot, röten, Röte, Röteln, Rötung, rötlich
* Roter m (“Marxist/communist”)

#### Related terms

* rot sehen
* rot-grün
* rot-rot
* rot-rot-grün
* Rotbleierz
* rotbräunlich
* Rote Bete
* Rote Brigaden
* Rote Grütze
* Roteisenstein
* Rotfärbung
* Rotfuchs
* rotglühend
* Rotglut
* rothaarig
* Rothaut
* Rotkäppchen
* Rotkehlchen
* Rotkopfente
* Rotohrara
* Rotrückenbussard
* Rotschopf
* Rotschulterbussard
* Rotstift
* Rotwein

### Further reading

* “rot” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
* “rot” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
* “rot” in Duden online
* “rot” in OpenThesaurus.de
* rot on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia $^{de}$

## German Low German
### Adjective

rot
* Alternative spelling of root

## Icelandic
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rɔːt/
* Rhymes: -ɔːt

### Etymology 1
#### Noun

rot n (genitive singular rots, no plural)
* unconsciousness, insensibility

##### Related terms

* rota

### Etymology 2

See rotna.

#### Noun

rot n (genitive singular rots, nominative plural rot)
* rot, decay, putrefaction

##### Related terms

* rotna
* rotinn
* rota

## Middle English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

rot
* Alternative form of rote (“root”)

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

rot
* Alternative form of roten (“to rot”)

### Etymology 3

A back-formation of roten (“to rot”).

#### Alternative forms

* rote, root, rotte, rott

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /rɔt/, /rɔːt/

#### Noun

rot (uncountable)
* Rotting or decomposition; the situation where something rots.
* Any disease which causes decaying and decomposition in humans.
* A disease that afflicts sheep; footrot, the rot.

##### Descendants

* English: rot

##### References

* “rō̆t, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-24.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology 1

From Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

#### Noun

rot m or f (definite singular rota or roten, indefinite plural røtter, definite plural røttene)
* root (part of a plant normally below ground level)
* root (of a tooth)
* root (of a hair)

##### Derived terms

* gressrot
* gulrot
* kvadratrot
* kålrot
* pælerot
* rotbløyte
* rotfrukt

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

rot
* imperative of rote

### References

* “rot” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ruːt/

### Etymology 1

From Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. Akin to English root.

#### Noun

rot f (definite singular rota, indefinite plural røter, definite plural røtene)
* root (of a plant)
* root (of a tooth)
* root (of a hair)

##### Inflection

* Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard.
* Forms in [brackets] were official, but considered second-tier.
* Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen.
* $^1$Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century. $^2$Form was allowed for schoolchildren as of 1910.

##### Derived terms

* gulrot
* kvadratrot
* kålrot
* rotfrukt

### Etymology 2

From Old Norse rót.

#### Noun

rot n (definite singular rotet, uncountable)
* a mess, untidiness, chaos
    Det er for mykje rot på loftet. Me må rydda.The attic is a mess. We have to tidy it up.
    Når me prøver å samarbeida med dei, blir det berre rot.When we try working with them, it just turns into chaos.

### References

* “rot” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* ort, Tor, tor, tro

## Old Dutch
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *raud.

### Adjective

rōt
* red

#### Descendants

* Middle Dutch: rôot
** Dutch: rood
*** Afrikaans: rooi
*** Jersey Dutch: rôi
*** Negerhollands: rooi, ro, roo, rood
*** Skepi Creole Dutch: aro
** Limburgish: roead

#### Further reading

* “rōt”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

## Old English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /roːt/

### Adjective

rōt (comparative rōtra, superlative rōtost)
* glad, cheerful
* noble, great

#### Declension
## Old High German
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rowdʰós, from *h₁rewdʰ-.

### Adjective

rōt
* red

#### Descendants

* Middle High German: rōt
** Alemannic German: rot, rout, ruat, ròt, röts (Italian Walser)
** Central Franconian: rut, rot
    Kirchröadsj Ripuarian: roeëd
** German: rot
** Hunsrik: rod
** Luxembourgish: rout
** Mòcheno: roat
** Pennsylvania German: rot
** Vilamovian: rut
** Yiddish: רויט (royt)

## Old Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts.

### Noun

rōt f
* root

#### Descendants

* Swedish: rot

## Pennsylvania German
### Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German rōt, from Proto-West Germanic *raud, from Proto-Germanic *raudaz. Compare German rot, Dutch rood, English red.

### Adjective

rot
* red

## Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈrɔt/
* Rhymes: -ɔt
* Syllabification: rot
* Homophone: rod

### Noun

rot f
* genitive plural of rota

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Swedish rōt, from Old Norse rót, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ruːt/
* Audio (Gotland):(file)
* Rhymes: -uːt

### Noun

rot c
* root; the part of a plant that anchors the plant body
* the part of a tooth extending into the bone holding the tooth in place
* source; an underlying cause
    Kärleken till pengar är roten till allt ont.The love of money is the root of all evil.
* (mathematics) of a number n, a positive number which, when raised to a specified power, yields n; the square root is understood if no power is specified
    Kubikroten ur 27 är 3.The cube root of 27 is 3.
    Multiplicera med roten ur 2.Multiply by root 2.
* (mathematics) a zero (of a function).
* (mathematics) a designated node in a tree.
* (mathematics) curl; a measure on how fast a vector field rotates: it can be described as the cross product of del and a given vectorial field
* (computing) root directory
* (linguistics) a word from which another word is derived.

#### Synonyms

* källa (3)
* nollställe (5)

#### Derived terms

* rotvälta (1)

#### Related terms

* ört

#### See also

* rötter
* rota (sig)

### Further reading

* rot in Svensk ordbok.

### Anagrams

* Tor, ort, tro

## Tok Pisin
### Etymology

From English road.

### Noun

rot
* road, street
** '2003, Mühlhäusler et al., Tok Pisin texts, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 9:
    Planti liklik rot i stap long ailan hia.
       Many little roads exist on this island.

#### References

Tok Pisin texts: from the beginning to the present / edited by Peter Mühlhäusler, Thomas E. Dutton, Suzanne Romaine. / John Benjamins Publishing Company / Copyright 2003 / →ISBN / page 106

## Vilamovian
### Etymology

From Italian rata (“installment”).

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

rōt f (plural rota)
* installment (a kind of payment)