murrain means disgusting or offensive, as if having an infectious disease; contemptible, despicable, loathsome, plaguey. It carries an Arena rating of 1510, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, murrain ranks #519 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,000 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,466 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,643 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
murrain is pronounced /ˈmʌɹ(ɪ)n/.
Why “murrain” is a great word
An infectious plague, particularly in livestock, or any widespread calamity; used adjectivally to mean disgusting or extreme. From Late Middle English *morein*, via Anglo-Norman *morine*, from Late Latin *morina* ("plague"), ultimately from Latin *morior* ("to die"). Unlike "pestilence," which evokes human epidemics like the Black Death, or "scourge," a broad term for metaphorical affliction, murrain is archaic, specific, and animal—the shepherd discovering his flock motionless at dawn, the air thick with the sweet stink of diseased wool, the village slaughtering every beast in the commons to save the rest. It is the intimate, visceral decay that prefigures a community's ruin.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English morein, morine, moreyn (“(widespread) death; widespread sickness, plague; fatal disease; carnage; carrion”), from Anglo-Norman morine, mourine, moreyn (“death; widespread sickness, plague; carrion; cattle disease”), Middle French morine, and Old French morine, mourine, murine (“widespread sickness, plague; animal which has died from a disease”), from Late Latin morina (“plague”), probably from Latin morior (“to die; to decay, wither”). The adjective and adverb are derived from the noun. Cognates * Italian morìa (“plague”) * Latin morticīnus (“that has died naturally, dead; (relational) carrion”) (Medieval Latin morticinium) * Occitan moria (“death; plague”) * Old French morie (“death”) mourie (“flesh of animals that have died of disease”) (Middl
adj
- Disgusting or offensive, as if having an infectious disease; contemptible, despicable, loathsome, plaguey.e.g.“No, ich know thars not within this land / A muryner Cat than Gyb is, betwixt the tems [Thames] and Tyne, […]” — c. 1553 (date written), “S.” [pseudonym; attributed to William Stevenson], […] Gammer Gurtons Nedle: […], London: […] Thomas Colwell, published 1575, →OCLC, Act III, scene iv, signature [C.iiii.], ver
- Used as an intensifier: to a great extent; extreme, intense.
adv
- Used as an intensifier: extremely, very.
noun
- Infectious disease; pestilence, plague; (countable) sometimes used in curses such as a murrain on someone: an outbreak of such a disease; a plague.
- A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution; a plague.e.g.“Usura [a personification of usury] is a murrain, usura / blunteth the needle in the maid’s hand / and stoppeth the spinner’s cunning.” — 1937, Ezra Pound, “Canto XLV”, in The Fifth Decad of Cantos, London: Faber and Faber, →OCLC; republished in A Selection of Poems, London: Faber and Faber […], November 1940, →OCLC, page 80:
- Any of several highly infectious diseases of cattle or other livestock, such as anthrax, babesiosis, or rinderpest; or a particular epizootic thereof; also, an infectious disease affecting other animals, such as poultry.e.g.“water murrain”
- An infectious disease affecting plants.e.g.“potato murrain”
- A poor-quality green-salted animal hide.
- Death, especially from an infectious disease.e.g.“Moreyn dethe mortalité […] mourine […]” — 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Substantyues”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Io
- Rotting flesh, especially of an animal which has died from a disease; carrion.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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