自然的腐壞
核心畫面本身：實體的東西慢慢分解掉，以及那個過程／那塊爛掉的部分。
rot, verb, decay · verb · C2
To slowly go bad and break down by a natural process, or to make something do this. Food, wood, and teeth can all rot.
腐爛
核心畫面
Something once solid slowly breaking down from the inside — fruit going soft and brown, wood to powder, left alone long enough that nature takes it apart.
一樣本來好好的東西，被放著不管，慢慢從裡面壞掉：水果變軟變褐、木頭一捏就碎成粉、牙齒被蛀出洞。重點有三個——它是慢的…更多收起
一樣本來好好的東西，被放著不管，慢慢從裡面壞掉：水果變軟變褐、木頭一捏就碎成粉、牙齒被蛀出洞。重點有三個——它是慢的（不是一下子壞掉）、是自然發生的（沒有人動手破壞）、而且是從內部瓦解（外表可能還在，裡面已經沒了）。這個字的其他用法幾乎都是把這幅畫面搬到別的東西上。From the word’s history
Inherited from Middle English roten, from Old English rotian "to rot, putrefy, become corrupted", from Proto-West Germanic *rotēn, from Proto-Germanic *rutāną "to rot". Notably, Old English rotian already carried both the physical sense (putrefy) and the figurative one (become corrupted) — the decay-of-a-system meaning is not a modern invention.
由古英語 rotian（腐爛、化膿、敗壞）一路繼承下來，再往上是原始日耳曼語 *rutāną（腐爛）。值得注意的是：古英語的 rotian 就同時帶著「肉體腐敗」和「敗壞、墮落」兩層意思，所以「制度或團隊爛掉」並不是現代人新發明的比喻，而是這個字很早就有的另一張臉。
Wiktionary, "rot" (etymology section, as supplied in the entry's attested origins)
Three branches
制度與處境的敗壞
把「慢慢從內部壞掉、放著不管只會更糟」這幅畫面，搬到組織、地方，或一個人的處境上。
rot, noun, a decline · noun · C2
A time when a team, a place, or a system keeps getting worse and no longer works as well as it should.
惡化
胡說八道
從「爛掉的東西」轉去罵「爛掉的話」：說出來的內容像壞掉的食物一樣，沒有價值、不能拿來用。
rot, noun, nonsense · noun · C2
Foolish or untrue talk; a way to say that someone's ideas are silly.
廢話
原始詞典資料14 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。
rotverb/ɹɒt/
- 1
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.
- Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot, / To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.
- 2
To decline in function or utility.
- Your brain will rot if you spend so much time on the computer, Tony!
- 3
To (cause to) deteriorate in any way, as in morals; to corrupt.
- 4
To make putrid; to cause to be wholly or partially decomposed by natural processes.
- to rot vegetable fiber
- 5
To spend a long period of time (in an unpleasant place or state).
- to rot in prison
- to rot in Hell
- 6
To expose, as flax, to a process of maceration, etc., for the purpose of separating the fiber; to ret.
- 7
datedslangTo talk nonsense.
- “Did they hang you well?” said Porson. “Don’t rot,” said Mr Watkins; “I don’t like it.”
- 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.’
- 8
slangDamn; blast.
- "Oh rot yer!" exclaimed Fank, with a sudden flare of passion that at least carried with it the dignity of a genuine emotion; "I've had just abart enough of you and your blinkin' game, Toady Joolby. Here, I'd sooner smash the bloody thing, straight, than be such a ruddy mug as to swallow any of your blahsted promises […]"
rotnoun/ɹɒt/
- 1
The process of becoming rotten; putrefaction.
- 2
Decaying matter.
- When a turkey vulture detects the scent of rot, it circles down, tracing the plume of chemicals to its source.
- 3
Any of several diseases in which breakdown of tissue occurs.
- His cattle must of rot and murrain die.
- 4
Verbal nonsense.
- You're talking rot! I don't believe a word.
這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：
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。