真的在爛掉
這一組是看得到、聞得到的腐壞。差別只在爛的是什麼：皮膚底下的傷口，或者堆在外面的垃圾。條件都一樣——放著沒人管，加上時間。
verb · C1
If a cut or a wound festers, it becomes infected. It fills with thick yellow liquid, stays sore and hot, and does not close up.
化膿感染
核心畫面
Picture a cut that nobody cleaned. It does not close. It gets warm and sore, thick liquid collects under the skin, and day by day the place gets worse instead of better. Two things make this picture: it was left alone, and time passed. Wherever this word goes, those two things go with it.
可以想成一個沒有人去洗的傷口。它收不了口。它發熱、會痛，皮膚底下積出膿來，一天一天不是變好而是變壞。這個畫面有兩個關…更多收起
可以想成一個沒有人去洗的傷口。它收不了口。它發熱、會痛，皮膚底下積出膿來，一天一天不是變好而是變壞。這個畫面有兩個關鍵：沒有人去處理，而且時間過去了。這個字走到哪裡，這兩件事就跟到哪裡——不管爛的是傷口、垃圾，還是心裡的一件事。From the word’s history
The packet's Wiktionary extract traces fester to Old French festre and Latin fistula, a pipe or tube, and notes it is a doublet of fistula. A fistula is a tube-shaped sore that will not close, so the sore came first and the verb was made from it.
來源的 Wiktionary 抄錄把 fester 追到古法文 festre，再往上是拉丁文 fistula（管子），並註明它跟 fistula 是同源雙式詞。fistula 指的是一條收不了口、通到外面的瘻管，所以先有「那個爛掉的地方」這個名詞，動詞才從名詞長出來。
Wiktionary extract supplied in packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:821045713): 'Inherited from Middle English festre … from Old French festre … from Latin fistula. The verb is derived from the noun … Doublet of fistula.'
Two branches
心裡和問題在爛掉
把傷口的畫面整個借給情緒和問題。借過來的不只是「變糟」，還有「在看不見的地方」和「因為沒人處理」這兩點，這正是它跟 grow 最不一樣的地方。
verb · C1
If a bad feeling or a problem festers, it slowly gets worse because nobody deals with it. It usually happens quietly, out of sight, over a long time.
悶著惡化