- rot (v.)
- Old English rotian "to decay," from Proto-Germanic *rutjan (cf. Old Saxon roton, Old Norse rotna, Old Frisian rotia, Middle Dutch roten, Old High German rozzen "to rot," German rößen "to steep flax"), from stem *rut-. The noun (c.1300) probably is of Scandinavian origin (cf. Icelandic rot, Swedish röta, Danish røde "decay, putrefaction"), and is related to the verb. Slang noun sense of "rubbish, trash" is from 1848.