Swearing in Italian
Swearing in Italian is simple, but not quite. Italy has 20 different regions and 101 provinces. That means that swearing may significantly vary from region to region according to each vernacular spoken in each city. For this reason, I’ve paid particular attention in avoiding those swearwords that aren’t commonly used in Standard Italian. Thus words like cazzimma, guallera, latrina, chiavica, madò etc, used, in this case, in my vernacular (Neapolitan) are not listed.
- cazzo: fuck (literally: dick, cock) - cazzo can be used in combination with chi (who), che (what), dove (where), quando (when), perché (why), e.g. chi cazzo sei tu? (who the fuck are you?); che cazzo fai? (what the fuck are you doing?); dove cazzo vai? (where the fuck are you going?); quando cazzo torni? (when the fuck are you coming back?); perché cazzo non mi rispondi? (why the fuck are you not replying?).
- cavolo: frick (literally: cauliflower, used instead of cazzo)
- coglione: arsehole, (lierally: testicle)
- merda: shit
- stronzo/a: arsehole (literally: turd)
- cazzate: bullshit, lies, nonsense
- cavolate: bullshit, lies, nonsense (from: cavolo)
- stronzate: bullshit, lies, nonsense (from: stronzo)
- puttana: slut
- zoccola: slut (literally: latrine rat)
- troia: whore (literally: sow)
- bastardo: bastard
- culo: arse
- porco: pig
cazzone: wanker, arsehole (literally: big dick)- leccaculo: lapdog (literally: arse licker, vulgar variant of leccapiedi, literally: feet licker)
- oddio: oh God (not really a cuss word, but still a profanity; from: oh dio)
Madonna: Virgin Mary (same as above)
- testa di cazzo: dickhead
- e che cazzo: what the fuck (literally: what the dick)
- che cazzo ne so: what the fuck do I know
- figlio di puttana: motherfucker (literally: son of a whore)
- brutto stronzo: ugly fucker
- stronzo/puttana/coglione.. etc di merda: shitty arsehole/slut/arsehole
- vaffanculo: fuck you (literally: go fuck someone in the arse)
- fottiti: fuck you (from: fottere, to shag, fuck)
- va’ a farti fottere: go fuck yourself (literally: go let someone fuck you)
- va’ a cacare: fuck you (literally: go take a shit; from: cacare, to shit)
- mi stai facendo incazzare: you’re pissing me off (from: incazzarsi, to get pissed off)
- (mi) hai rotto i coglioni/le palle: you’re being really fucking annoying (literally: you’ve cracked my balls)
- porco Giuda: shit (literally: Judas the pig)
- porca miseria: holy cow, but ruder (literally: pig misery)
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