Fetid vs Rancid - What's the difference?

As adjectives the difference between fetid and rancid

is that fetid is stinking, fetid while rancid is being rank in taste or smell.

(en adjective)

Foul-smelling, stinking.

I caught the fetid odor of dirty socks.

* See also

(en noun)

(rare) The foul-smelling asafoetida plant, or its extracts.

(en adjective)

Being rank in taste or smell.

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

offensive

His remarks were rancid ; everyone got up and left.

* Nouns to which "rancid" often gets applied: food, butter, meat, milk, fat, oil, smell, odor, taste.

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