dirty word

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɜːtiˌwɜːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɚɾijˌwɝd/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

dirty word (plural dirty words)

1. A word that is considered vulgar, not necessarily sexual in nature.

   The child was made to sit in the corner as punishment for saying a dirty word.

   • 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:

     Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.

2. (idiomatic) The name of a topic that a person prefers not to hear or discuss.

   Work is a dirty word to him.

Synonyms

• (vulgar term): curse, curse word, oath, profanity

Translations

word that is considered vulgar

• Finnish: kirosana (fi), ruma sana
• French: gros mot (fr)
• German: Schimpfwort (de) n
• Polish: brzydkie słowo n
• Russian: руга́тельное сло́во n (rugátelʹnoje slóvo), руга́тельство (ru) n (rugátelʹstvo), неприли́чное сло́во n (neprilíčnoje slóvo), бра́нное сло́во n (bránnoje slóvo)
• Swedish: fult ord n, runt ord n, snuskigt ord n, icke rumsrent ord n
• Turkish: kötü söz

a topic that a person does not like

• Finnish: kirosana (fi)
• Swedish: fult ord n

See also

• cacophemism
• dysphemism
• euphemism