faugh

English

Alternative forms

• faw
• fough (obsolete)

Etymology

Onomatopoeic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔː/
• Rhymes: -ɔː
• Homophones: faw, fough

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Interjection

faugh

1. (dated) An exclamation of contempt, or of disgust, especially for a smell.

   Synonyms: yuck, bah; see also Thesaurus:yuck, Thesaurus:bah

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 89:

     Bian[ca]. I am no ſtrumpet, but of life as honeſt, / As you, that thus abuſe me. / Em[ilia]. As I: fough, fie vpon thee.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:

     Faugh! how it stinks! It doth not smell like a Christian.

   • 1900 Mary Harriott Norris (editor), 1823 Walter Scott (author), Quentin Durward, American Book Company, page 24:

     The very scent of the carrion—faugh—reached my nostrils at the distance where we stood.

   • 1922, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Introduction”, in Fantasia of the Unconscious, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, →OCLC, page 4:

     The orthodox religious world says faugh! to sex. Whereupon we thank [Sigmund] Freud for giving them tit for tat.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     […] The thought was a bitter one, and I don't suppose I have ever come closer to saying ‘Faugh!’

See also

• fie