Meaning

noun a state of agitation or turbulent change or development

noun a substance capable of bringing about fermentation

noun a process in which an agent causes an organic substance to break down into simpler substances; especially, the anaerobic breakdown of sugar into alcohol

originFrom Middle English ferment, from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentāre (“to leaven, ferment”), from fermentum (“substance causing fermentation”), possibly from contraction of *fervimentum, from fervēre. See also fervent.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0