foul

English

/faʊl/

adj
Definitions
  • Covered with, or containing unclean matter; dirty.
  • (of words or a way of speaking) obscene, vulgar or abusive.
  • Detestable, unpleasant, loathsome.
  • Disgusting, repulsive; causing disgust.
  • (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
  • Unpleasant, stormy or rainy.
  • Dishonest or not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.
  • (nautical) Entangled and therefore restricting free movement, not clear.
  • (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English foul inherited from Old English fūl (foul, unclean, guilty, vile, impure, rotten, corrupt) inherited from Proto-Germanic *fūlaz (foul, rotten, dirty) derived from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (rotten, foul, rot, stink, pus), *puH- (rotten, foul, rot, stink, pus).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*puH-

Gloss

rotten, foul, rot, stink, pus

Concept
Semantic Field

Food and drink

Ontological Category

Property

Emoji
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Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms