souiller

Etymology

From Middle French souiller, from Old French soillier, souillier (“to soil, make dirty, wallow in mire”), from Frankish *sauljan, *sulljan (“to make dirty, soil”), from Proto-Germanic *sulwōną, *sulwijaną, *saulijaną (“to soil, make dirty”), from Proto-Indo-European *sūl- (“thick liquid”). Cognate with Old Saxon sulian (“to soil, mire”), Middle Dutch soluwen, seulewen (“to soil, besmirch”), Old High German solagōn, bisullen (“to make dirty”), German dialectal sühlen (“to soil, make dirty”), Old English solian, sylian (“to soil, sully”), Danish søle (“to make dirty, defile”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (bisauljan, “to bemire”). More at soil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /su.je/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

souiller

1. (transitive) to soil, sully, dirty
2. (transitive) to make unclean or impure; defile, profane
3. (figuratively, transitive) to blacken, besmirch, defile

Further reading

• “souiller” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• rouilles, rouillés