Standard Lemma guide

rancid

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɹænsɪd/ without æ-raising
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈɹeə̯nsɪd/ æ-raising
  • /ˈɹɛə̯nsɪd/ æ-raising
  • CMU ARPABET: R AE1 N S IH0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Rank in taste or smell.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The house was deserted, with a rancid half-eaten meal still on the dinner table.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Offensive. Unpleasant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Her remarks were rancid; everyone got up and left.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

smelling of fermentation or staleness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sour

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

(used of decomposing oils or fats) having a rank smell or taste usually due to a chemical change or decomposition

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • rancid butter
  • rancid bacon

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin ranceō Proto-Indo-European *dheh1-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin ranciduslbor. English rancid Learned borrowing from Latin rancidus (“stinking, rank, rancid, offensive”).

Across languages

Translations

49 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: زَنِخ (zaniḵ) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Azerbaijani: iylənmiş — being rank in taste or smell
  • Azerbaijani: qaxsımış — being rank in taste or smell
  • Azerbaijani: acılaşmış — being rank in taste or smell
  • Azerbaijani: qoxumuş — being rank in taste or smell
  • Central Bikol: mahalan — being rank in taste or smell
  • Bulgarian: гранясал (granjasal) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Catalan: ranci — being rank in taste or smell
  • Chinese Mandarin: 馊 (sōu) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Czech: žluklý — being rank in taste or smell
  • Czech: ztuchlý — being rank in taste or smell
  • Czech: smradlavý — being rank in taste or smell
  • Danish: harsk — being rank in taste or smell
  • Esperanto: ranca — being rank in taste or smell
  • Finnish: eltaantunut — being rank in taste or smell
  • Finnish: härskiintynyt — being rank in taste or smell
  • Finnish: härski — being rank in taste or smell
  • French: rance — being rank in taste or smell
  • Galician: rancio — being rank in taste or smell
  • German: ranzig — being rank in taste or smell
  • German: garstig — being rank in taste or smell
  • Greek: χαλασμένος (chalasménos) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Greek: ταγκός (tagkós) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Greek: ξινισμένος (xinisménos) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Hungarian: avas — being rank in taste or smell
  • Icelandic: þrár — being rank in taste or smell
  • Icelandic: þræsinn — being rank in taste or smell
  • Italian: rancido — being rank in taste or smell
  • Latin: rancidus — being rank in taste or smell
  • Malay: basi — being rank in taste or smell
  • Māori: kūtaitai — being rank in taste or smell
  • Khiamniungan Naga: chēih — being rank in taste or smell
  • Norman: êventé — being rank in taste or smell
  • Norwegian Bokmål: harsk — being rank in taste or smell
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: harsk — being rank in taste or smell
  • Polish: zjełczały — being rank in taste or smell
  • Portuguese: râncido — being rank in taste or smell
  • Portuguese: ranço — being rank in taste or smell
  • Portuguese: rançoso — being rank in taste or smell
  • Romanian: rânced — being rank in taste or smell
  • Russian: проту́хший (protúxšij) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Russian: прого́рклый (progórklyj) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Spanish: rancio — being rank in taste or smell
  • Swedish: härsken — being rank in taste or smell
  • Tagalog: maanta — being rank in taste or smell
  • Ukrainian: згі́рклий (zhírklyj) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Ukrainian: проту́хлий (protúxlyj) — being rank in taste or smell
  • Walloon: rance — being rank in taste or smell
  • Walloon: foirt — being rank in taste or smell