the.com/defilement
Purity's least favorite word; the moment clean becomes a memory.
means The act of making something impure, dirty, or corrupted — or the resulting state of having been spoiled.
from Traces back through Middle English 'defilen' to Old French 'defouler' (to trample, violate), but tangled together with a separate native English word 'befilen' (to make foul, related to 'foul' itself). The two verbs collided in form and meaning, so the modern word carries both senses: the trampling-down of something and the plain old filth of it.
- original sense
- literally trampling something into filth underfoot
- religious use
- ritual impurity, not just physical dirt
- root word
- from old french defouler, to trample or abuse
- legal twist
- once a real criminal charge for corrupting minors