stinking
/ˈstɪŋkɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.04 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Very bad and undesirable.
adj
An intensifier, a hypallage.
Example Sentences
- "I have a stinking cold."
- "Oh, I got stinking—and, worse, acted like the world's worst heel to top it off. I passed out mentally about the time we left the club—which must have been around 2:30—but unfortunately didn't pass out physically."
- "We don’t need your stinking sympathy."
- "“Everyone shut up! Lord ThunderSteel commands it! I am your leader! I have this badge that says so!” “We don’t need no stinking badges!”"
- "From the magnificent ejaculation of the Waimangu geyser, to the tiniest of gaseous emissions, descriptions of the thermal reserve were rife with dischargings, bubblings and stinkings, quiverings and palpitations, orifices and protuberances."
Etymology
From Middle English stynkynge, stinkinge, stinkinde, stinkende, stynkande, stynkand, from Old English stincende, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwandz (“stinking”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną (“to stink”), equivalent to stink + -ing. Cognate with Dutch stinkend (“stinking, stinky”), German stinkend (“stinking, stinky”), Danish stinkende (“stinking, stinky”), Norwegian stinkende (“stinking, stinky”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: stynkynge, stincende, *stinkwandz, *stinkwaną, stinkinge