The more common Middle English word for sex was swive , which has developed nicely into the Modern English word swivel , as in: go swivel on it. The earliest examples of fuck in English appear in place names. These both feature a kestrel known as the Windfucker which, we must assume, went at the wind. The next definite example comes from Bristol in Fockynggroue , which may have been named for a grove where couples went for some quiet alone time.
Like fuck , shit has a rich history, being used across the Germanic and Scandinavian languages, making it one of our oldest words.
Shit did not just happen in the countryside though. Street-names, for example, reflect the grotty state of urban living in graphic detail. This too is an old word, appearing across the Germanic and Scandinavian languages, although any connection to the Latin cunnus is unlikely, despite the apparent similarity.
In keeping with our theme of bodily waste, we have piss , a relatively mild swear word, but definitely not something you'd like your grandmother to hear you say. The origin story for this one is pretty boring, but here's another little tidbit for you: the Old French pisser seems to refer not to urine itself, but to that which dispels the urine.
It essentially means "one who pisses" or "that which pisses," meaning it can refer to either a person or a certain male appendage that I could certainly come up with some vulgar words for. As with shit , there are many creative ways to use piss as a swear word. Origin: Variant of arse. Depending on where you live, ass or arse may be the more common variant of this word. While this word doesn't refer to excretion itself, it does of course refer to the body part responsible for that particularly unpleasant but very necessary function, and thus is the butt pun intended of many jokes and insults.
A donkey is also known as an ass after its Latin subgenus name, Asinus , and ass is often used as an insult essentially meaning "a stupid or foolish person. It should be noted that, while it is not at all insulting to call a donkey an ass , it would be quite rude to tell a donkey that it has a fat ass.
Most swear words have to do with three things: bodily functions, God, or sex. We covered the bodily functions with the first two, and now we're onto blasphemy. It's interesting to think of how the meaning of hell has evolved over time. Though the details are highly debated by theologians and internet trolls alike, the basic meaning of Hell in the Christian faith is a place or state of eternal suffering and separation from God. As a swear word, however, hell has many more meanings.
For some reason, it's a relatively mild expletive, so you're likely to hear it crop up fairly often. Origin: Middle English, from Old French dam p ner , from Latin dam p nare "to inflict loss on," from damnum "loss, damage. If you're headed to Hell in a handbasket, how do you get there? And what are you once you're there? You're damned , of course. You can understand why damning someone to Hell —in other words, wishing them to suffer great pain and agony for the rest of eternity—is a pretty insulting thing to say.
However, much like hell , damn is not a very strong or harsh swear word compared to others. Isn't English weird? The Old English bicce comes from even older root words that all mean the same thing: a female dog.
The word bitch still does mean "female dog" and is used in its literal sense in many different animal-related contexts. However, it has also evolved as an insulting term used to refer to an unpleasant woman. Bitch used to be one of the most insulting things to call a woman—consider, after all, the implications of saying someone is behaving like "a bitch in heat.
This certainly did not fly in the more conservative societies of days past. Today, however, bitch has a wide variety of meanings, some of which actually have positive connotations.
Origin: Early 16th century, of Germanic origin compare with Swedish dialect focka and Dutch dialect fokkelen ; possibly from an Indo-European root meaning "strike," shared by Latin pungus , meaning "fist. This is the big one. Well, one of the big ones. The other big ones were a bit too big for us to put in print.
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The Books Podcast. The Book Club Weekly See a sample. Many people consider this curse word doubly offensive. The phrase motherfucker referring to someone or something despicable was originally documented during an case argued at the Texas Court of Appeals. In the World War II era, motherfucker became a more popular way to say someone or something is irritating or ruthless.
As the s rolled around, the word took a turn for the better, if you can believe it. But did you know that hell is recorded before the year ? It comes from the Old English hel and hell , a term for the abode of the dead in mythology—and especially for the wicked, hence the Christian Hell.
Hell is related to a number of similar words in Germanic languages, like the Old Icelandic Hel , goddess of the underworld. It can refer to anything from using the restroom to being exceedingly angry. The word piss is first recorded around —, from French pissier , ultimately from a Latin word meant to imitate the sound of, well, peeing.
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