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"decay" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often rot (3 letters).
Definitions
fall into decay or ruin
Word origin
From Middle English decaien (“to decrease, diminish”) and decai (“deterioration, decline in value”), from Anglo-Norman decaeir (“to fall away, decay, decline”), from Vulgar Latin *dēcadere, etymologically restored form of Latin dēcidere (“to fall down, to fail, sink or perish”), from de- (“of, from, away, down”) + cadere (“to fall”). Compare decadent and decadence.
Used in a sentence
“tooth decay/dental decay—wood-decay fungi—bacterial decay—photochemical decay”
“He spent himself, the labour of his axe, And leave it there far from a useful fireplace To warm the frozen swamp as best it could With the slow smokeless burning of decay.”
“civic and moral decay—systemic decay—fall into decay—urban decay—arrested decay—memory decay”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Rot”5 letters
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