† puantadj.

Etymology: < Middle French puant (French puant ) stinking (c1200 in Anglo-Norman; end of the 10th cent. in Old French as pudenz ), disgusting, contemptible (first half of the 13th cent.), use as adjective of present participle of puir to stink (although this is apparently first attested later (late 12th cent.); French puer , with change of conjugation) < an unattested post-classical Latin form *putire , alteration of classical Latin pūtēre to stink (see putor n.).