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If a dead animal or plant putrefies, it goes through that rotting: the flesh breaks down and the smell becomes awful. This is the verb that sits next to putrefaction. You will see it in science writing, in old books, and in grim news. Everyday English says rot, go bad, or decay. Meat left out in the heat will putrefy; a fallen bird in summer will putrefy. People do not use it for a sad feeling, or for a government that has “gone rotten” — English has other words for that, and this one stays with real, physical rotting. Though actually, you may meet the spelling putrify; the usual is putrefy, with an e in the middle.
腐爛、發臭腐壞
組成From Middle French putréfier. It is the verb beside putrefaction, from the same Latin “become rotten / make rotten” family.
同家族的字
- putrefactionthe noun for the process; putrefy is what the dead matter does
- putridsame Latin root for “rotten”; the adjective for the foul result
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
putrefyverb/ˈpjutɹəfaɪ/
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To fester or rot and exude a fetid stench.
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To become filled with a pus-like or bile-like substance.
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To reach an advanced stage of decomposition.
- In the Middle Ages, for instance, a recipe for sex stimulation required the putrefied flesh of a human corpse, together with both human and animal testes and ovaries, pimento, and alcohol.
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To become gangrenous.
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To make morbid, carious, or gangrenous.
- to putrefy an ulcer or wound
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To corrupt; to make foul.
- Private suits do putrefy the public good.
- They would but stink, and putrefy the air.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。