puer

to stink, to reek

verb poo-EH Less Common

Origin: Latin putere (to stink, to rot)

Usage Note

puer is a regular -er verb but its use is almost exclusively informal or colloquial. It can take a direct object indicating what something smells of: ça pue le poisson ('it stinks of fish'). In figurative speech, ça pue means 'something is fishy' or 'this smells bad'.

Examples

"Ça pue ici!"

Natural Translation

It stinks in here!

Literal Translation

It stinks here!

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