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The Polish language, like most others, contains swear words and profanity. Although some words are not always seen as pejorative, others are considered by some to be highly offensive. There is debate amongst scholars regarding the language's swear words that are considered to be the most derogatory.

In the Polish language, there exist different types of swearing (as coined by Steven Pinker); these include abusive, cathartic, dysphemistic, emphatic and idiomatic.

Research has suggested that Polish people perceive profanity differently depending on context, for example, swearing in public versus swearing in private. 65% of surveyed adults said they have sworn due to emotions and only 21% claimed they never swore.

The CBOS (Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej; The Center for Public Opinion Research) has conducted surveys to examine the use of profanity. In the research report, it was pointed out that information given about the private sector might not be accurate, as it is a protected and idealized space, meaning that the subjects of the survey could be downplaying or changing their answers providing a false report.

Vulgar words

Linguist Jerzy Bralczyk calculated that there are only five basic vulgarisms in Polish. These are "cock" (chuj), "cunt" (pizda), "fuck" (pierdolić, jebać) and "whore/shit/fuck" (kurwa). The rest are combinations of these five, derived words and phraseological relationships. New vulgarisms appear when new word configurations are created or their semantic context changes. The dictionary of real Polish gives four words in 350 configurations, including the word "shit" in 47 functions.

Vagina

Cipa

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Literally "pussy". Another form of the word is the diminutive "cipka", which is usually not considered as crude.
2. An insult towards a female.
3. A person that is considered incompetent.

Pizda

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Like "cipa", only more vulgar. Similar to the English "cunt". This is the same in Romanian.
2. A black eye.
3. A coward.

Penis

Chuj

Sometimes incorrectly written as "huj".

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. "Dick" or "cock". The diminutive form of the word is "chujek".
2. A rude person, mostly used towards males.
3. A disliked male.

Chujowy

Sometimes incorrectly written as "hujowy".

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. An adjective derived from "chuj", literally meaning "dick-like". "Chujowy" is the masculine form, the feminine form is "chujowa" and the neuter form is "chujowe".
2. Often used to describe an object (or situation) of a rather deplorable or otherwise undesirable quality, e.g. "Chujowy samochód" meaning "A vehicle that broadly fails in its utility to be of use (breaks down often, looks like crap, etc.)"

Chujowo

Sometimes incorrectly written as "hujowo".

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. An adverb derived from "chuj".
2. Used to describe a bad state of being.
3. Used to describe a bad way of doing something.

To copulate

Pierdolić się

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To have sex.
2. To waste time on something
3. To be overly cautious with something.

Jebać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. “To fuck”/have sex with someone. This word has many derivative words as well, and is in fact one of the most versatile words in the Polish language.
2. To smell bad.

Examples include:

Pieprzyć

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. “To fuck” or to have sex.
2. To lie, talk nonsense.
3. To disregard something or someone as unimportant (similar to the English expression “fuck this”/“fuck you”).
4. To waste time on something.

In a non-vulgar instance it means to add pepper.

Pierdolić

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To have sex, “to fuck”.
2. To regard something as irrelevant, not worth attention.
3. To lie, talk nonsense.

Robić loda

Pronunciation: IPA:

To “give a blowjob”. Literally translates to “do an ice cream / a popsicle”.

Ruchać

Pronunciation: IPA:

To have sex with someone, to “fuck" someone.

Wyruchać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To have sex with someone, to “fuck" someone. A variation of "ruchać," often used in the past or future tense.
2. To deceive someone.
3. To steal from someone.

Rżnąć

Pronunciation: IPA:

To have sex or “to fuck”. Also has multiple non-vulgar meanings, e.g. "to saw".

Wypierdalać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To kick someone out.
2. To get away from somewhere.
3. To throw something away.

Racial slurs

Ciemno jak w dupie (u) Murzyna

Pronunciation: IPA:

Very dark. Literally "as dark as the inside of a black person's ass"

Skośny

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. An offensive term for an Asian person.
2. In a non-vulgar context: diagonal.

Żółtek

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. An offensive term for an Asian person, literally "yellowie".
2. Pope John Paul II, mockingly referred to as rzułta morda (lit. yellowface)

Ciapaty

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. An offensive term for a person of a slightly darker skin color but not black, usually Indian subcontinent, people from the Middle East.
2. Word probably comes from "ćapati", a type of flat bread traditionally made in India and Pakistan.

Anti-LGBT slurs

Ciota

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Period, menstruation.
2. An insulting way to call a homosexual, usually one behaving in a perceived to be overly feminine way.

Cwel

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A male providing sexual services to homosexual inmates in prison
2. An insult towards a male.

Pedał

Pronunciation: IPA:

Faggot (a gay man). Literally "pedal".

Insults

Cipa

Pronunciation: IPA:

(See above)

Chuj

Pronunciation: IPA:

(See above)

Do dupy

Pronunciation: IPA:

For something or someone thought no good, useless.

Dziwka

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A prostitute, hooker.
2. An insult towards a female.

Frajer

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A naive person.
2. A loser.

Matkojebca

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Same as the English "motherfucker".

Menda

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A policeman.
2. A greedy or clumsy person.

Męska kurwa

Pronunciation: IPA:

A male prostitute.

Skurwiel

Pronunciation: IPA:

An insult towards a male.

Skurwysyn

Pronunciation: IPA:

An insult towards a male. Similar to the English “son of a whore”.

Suka

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. An insult used towards females. Same as “bitch” in English.
2. Non-vulgar: a female dog.
3. A male sexually submissive to another male.

Świnia

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A person behaving in a way that is seen as obscene. Same as calling someone a pig in English.
2. Non-vulgar: a pig.

Zdzira

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A female prostitute.
2. An insult towards a female.

Others

Dojebać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To beat someone up, give someone a beating.

2. To add something to something else in high amounts, e.g. pepper to a soup.

Dopierdalać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To beat someone up, give someone a beating.
2. To talk nonsense.

Dopieprzać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Same as "dopierdalać" but less vulgar.

Dupa

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Ass.
2. A scaredy cat.
3. Insult towards a man.
4. A vulgar way to call an attractive woman.
5. Girlfriend (preferably when discussed in her absence, unless she's a ździra).

Gówno

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Feces, literally “shit”.
2. Used as an insult towards a person seen as someone not worthy of attention.
3. Something useless, worth nothing.
4. Can also literally mean “nothing”, similar to "jack shit" or "fuck all".

Japa

Pronunciation: IPA:

Used to refer to someone’s face, similar to the English "mug".

Jasna cholera

Pronunciation: IPA:

A word to express frustration. Similar to “holy shit” in English.

Kiblować

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To be serving a sentence in prison.
2. To repeat a grade in school.

Kurwa

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A female prostitute.
2. An immoral, unethical person.
3. An expression of frustration, like “fuck!” in English.
4. A filler like “fucking” in an English sentence, e.g. “I hate this fucking show”.

Kurestwo

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A broken object.
2. A bad tasting dish/drink.
3. A substance that is unpleasant to touch or smell.

Kurwiarz

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A man frequently who frequently engages in sex with prostitutes.
2. A man cheating on his wife.

Kurwidołek

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. A brothel.
2. Any place where prostitutes can frequently be encountered.
3. The flat of a man who frequently invites multiple women over to have sex with them.

Mieć nasrane w głowie

Pronunciation: IPA:

To behave weirdly, illogically, with no sense.

Morda w kubeł

Pronunciation: IPA:

Used to tell someone to be quiet, to stop talking, to shut up.

Na odpieprz/odpierdol

Pronunciation: IPA:

To do something without much care or thought.

Najebać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To be drunk/have had too much to drink.
2. To add too much of something.
3. To beat someone up.

Niech to szlag trafi

Pronunciation: IPA:

An expletive used to express frustration. Similar to “dammit” or “shit” in English.

Opierdalać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To be lazy.
2. To quickly peel something.
3. To perform fellatio.

Obesrać/obsrać

Pronunciation: IPA:

To dirty someone or something with feces.

Pierdolić

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To have sex, “to fuck”.
2. To regard something as irrelevant, not worth attention.
3. To lie, talk nonsense.

Robić w chuja

Pronunciation: IPA:

To fool someone. Literally: ”do in a dick”.

Samojebka

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To jerk off, to masturbate. Literally: ”self-fucking”.
2. To take a picture of yourself, to take a selfie.

Srać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To defecate, “to (take a) shit”.
2. To regard something as irrelevant, not worth attention.

Sometimes it is followed by "taśma" to create the word "srajtaśma". The literal translation is "shit-tape" and it refers to toilet paper.

Srać w gacie

Pronunciation: IPA:

To be very afraid, nervous. Literally "to be shitting your pants".

Szajs

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. Feces, literally “shit”.
2. Something worthless, of bad quality.

When the word "papier", meaning paper, is added after it makes "szajspapier". Literally, it means "shitpaper" and is used to refer to toilet paper.

Szczać

Pronunciation: IPA:

To release urine, to pee. Literally: "to piss".

Walić konia

Pronunciation: IPA:

To jerk off, to masturbate. Literally: ”to beat the horse”.

Wkurwiać

Pronunciation: IPA:

To annoy someone or to “piss someone off”.

Wpaść po uszy w gówno

Pronunciation: IPA:

To be in a lot of trouble. Literally translates to “fall into shit to the ears”. Similar to the English phrase “to be in deep shit”.

Wyglądać jak pół dupy zza krzaka

Pronunciation: IPA:

To look strange, weird. Literally translates to “look like half an ass from behind a bush”. Similar to the English phrase “to look like shit”.

Zabrać dupę w troki

Pronunciation: IPA:

To get away, to run away. Usually referring to running away from something problematic.

Zapieprzać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To be going very fast.
2. To be working hard.

Zapierdalać

Pronunciation: IPA:

1. To be going very fast.
2. To be working hard.
3. To steal.
4. To stink.
5. To beat (especially perform a single-punch knock-out).

Zawracać dupę

Pronunciation: IPA:

To distract someone, to take their attention away from what they are doing.

Context and function

Numerous studies have been done to examine the way that profanity is used in everyday life situations as well as online. No studies give a definite answer as to whether vulgarity is more common online or not and has proved to be a difficult topic to study as it can change with time as well. One such study looked at different internet forums: one that was an open discussion, a closed discussion, and a social networking site. An open discussion allowed for the most anonymity while the other two conditions required some form of the users identifying themselves. The study found that users often used vulgar expressions criticized other users arguments in the discussions, attacked the users directly or used that language to insult a larger group. At times it is also just used as a way for users to express their general frustrations.

It is said that profanity started being used in songs around the late 1970s and into the 1980s in Poland. It was a response to the state of the country at the time. The youth used vulgar expressions to show their frustrations. Though songs that used such language would be presented in the mass media, works with profanities more often circulated within communities. This censorship paved the way for innovation in the way of expressing emotion and frustration, which streamlined the development of Polish rock in the 1980s (which would become popular and influential). Profanity has not been censored as heavily in Polish music in recent years.

Lexical borrowing

A number of words in the Polish lexicon have been borrowed from foreign languages and used with similar meanings. There are several profane words or expressions that have been borrowed from other languages. One such word would be MILF. Borrowed from the English language, it means exactly what it does in its original context. The use of the abbreviation "WTF", as in "what the fuck" can also be used in Polish profanity. The noun "swołocz" is a borrowing from the Russian "сволочь". Some profanities have been borrowed from German and transcribed phonetically according to their pronunciation, e.g. "szajs" was derived from the German "Scheiße" which carries the same meaning as the Polish word. The appearance of this word in the Polish lexicon could be attributed to the historical partition of Poland where the country was occupied by its neighbors which tended to suppress the use of Polish language and enforce the use of theirs.

See also

• Mat (profanity)
• Seven dirty words

References

1. Grochowski, Maciej (1948- ). (2008). Słownik polskich przekleństw i wulgaryzmów. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. ISBN 9788301156534. OCLC 297671369.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
2. janKomunikant (Organization) (2011). Słownik polszczyzny rzeczywistej (siłą rzeczy-fragment). Primum Verbum. ISBN 9788362157174. OCLC 767863631.
3. Dokowicz, Agnieszka. (2015). Wulgaryzmy w języku kibiców polskich, czyli "Polska grać, k... mać!". Wydawnictwo Naukowe Silva Rerum. ISBN 9788364447532. OCLC 939912647.
4. University of Rzeszów, Poland; Mormol, Paulina (2016). "The correlation between the high offensiveness of swear words and their productivity: A comparison of selected Polish and English examples". Studia Anglica Resoviensia. 13: 44–54. doi:10.15584/sar.2016.13.5.
5. "Profanity", Misplaced Pages, 2019-06-09, retrieved 2019-06-09
6. Pinker, Steven, 1954- (2007). The stuff of thought : language as a window into human nature. New York: Viking. ISBN 9780670063277. OCLC 154308853.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
7. ^ Zbróg, Piotr; Zbróg, Zuzanna (2017-12-01). "Reprezentacja społeczna wulgaryzmów w świetle wypowiedzi polskich internautów". Socjolingwistyka. 31: 205–230. doi:10.17651/SOCJOLING.31.13.
8. Fundacja Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej (October 2013). "Wulgaryzmy w Życiu Codziennym" (PDF). Komunikat Z Badań.
9. Polen curse as like Rej
10. A dictionary of real Polish language, as the Polish street says. All vulgarisms.
11. "Synonyms of the word "cipa"".
12. "WSJP, certolić się". www.wsjp.pl. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
13. "Wyruchać - Slang Definition on Miejski.pl".
14. "WSJP, wypierdalać". www.wsjp.pl. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
15. "ciota – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
16. "cwel – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
17. "WSJP, kiblować". www.wsjp.pl. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
18. "kurwa – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
19. "WSJP, kurwa". www.wsjp.pl. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
20. "mieć nasrane w głowie – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
21. "obesrać – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
22. "WSJP, obsrać". www.wsjp.pl. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
23. "wyglądać jak pół dupy zza krzaka – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
24. "zabrać dupę w troki – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
25. "zapieprzać – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
26. "zapierdalać – Wikisłownik, wolny słownik wielojęzyczny". pl.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2019-05-12.
27. ^ Tereszkiewicz, Anna (January 2013), Do Poles flame? Aggressiveness on Polish discussion groups and social networking sites (PDF), vol. 1, pp. 221–236, doi:10.7592/ep.1.tereszkiewicz, ISBN 9789949490226, retrieved 2019-06-09
28. ^ Gajda, Krzysztof (2017). "Profanity in songs. Seeking the limits of freedom of speech, and the reproduction and sanctioning of contemporary linguistic tendencies". Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Litteraria Polonica. 45 (7). doi:10.18778/1505-9057.45.14. hdl:11089/24801.

• Profanity by language
• Polish profanity
• Polish language