having a very bad smell, or (informally) very bad or unpleasant.
From Old English 'stincan' meaning to smell bad. Related to German 'stinken'. The word has been used for over 1,000 years to describe foul odors.
Kids in medieval times used the same word we do—'stinking'—but they were often literally surrounded by terrible smells with no indoor plumbing! The metaphorical meaning (something being 'bad') came much later.
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