If you’re here, chances are that you already know what swear words (or cuss words) are. But if you don’t, here’s an explanation: they are words that you should never use unless you want to offend someone. As a polite person, you don’t want to do that, do you? However, it’s important to know how people use swear words in English, so you’ll be aware if anyone ever insults you. Below, you can find a list of the most common swear words in English and a brief explanation of each of them.
Swear words in English
| SWEAR WORD | MEANING |
| Asshole/arsehole | a person’s anus; a stupid, irritating, or contemptible person. |
| Balls | testicles; nonsense; rubbish (often said to express strong disagreement) |
| Beaver | a woman’s genitals or pubic area; a woman (offensive) |
| Beef curtains | vulgar slang for the vulva (vagina) |
| Bastard | an unpleasant or despicable person |
| Bellend | the glans of the penis; an annoying or contemptible man |
| Bitch | pejorative slang word for a person, usually a woman |
| Bloodclaat | a Jamaican term originally meaning a sanitary napkin, used now as a swear word meaning a not nice, shitty person/thing |
| Bloody hell | a rude way of expressing great anger |
| Bloody oath | an Australian expression of complete agreement |
| Bint | an offensive term for a girl or a woman |
| Bollocks | testicles; nonsense |
| Brotherfucker | motherfucker (term of abuse); a homosexual man |
| Bugger | used as a term of abuse, typically for a man; a person who penetrates the anus of someone during sexual intercourse |
| Bugger me/off | go away |
| Bullshit | stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense |
| Crap | talk at length in a foolish or boring way; extremely poor in quality |
| Child-fucker | a pedophile; an extremely contemptible person |
| Christ on a bike | a humorous variation of the exclamation ‘Christ’ or ‘Jesus Christ’ |
| Christ on a cracker | used to express surprise, shock, disgust, or even awe |
| Choad | a penis, especially one that is short and thick; a loser or undesirable person |
| Clunge | used to refer to the anus or a vagina; also used to refer to women in general |
| Crikey | an expression of surprise or astonishment |
| Cock | a penis; nonsense |
| Cocksucker | a contemptible person |
| Cow | an unpleasant or disliked woman; an unpleasant person or thing |
| Cunt | an extremely vulgar slang word for female genitals or women in general |
| Damn | used for emphasis or to express anger or frustration |
| Dick | a penis; a stupid or contemptible man |
| Dickhead | a stupid, irritating, or ridiculous person, particularly a man |
| Effing | used for emphasis or to express annoyance |
| Fair suck of the sad | an equitable opportunity; a reasonable chance |
| Fanny | a person’s buttocks |
| Fatherfucker | a generic term of abuse, similar to motherfucker; a woman who engages in intercourse with men much older than herself; a gay man |
| Feck | a humorous word that is used to avoid saying fuck |
| Flaps | the region of the vagina called the labia |
| Frigger | a despicable or obnoxious person |
| Fuck | used to express annoyance, contempt, or impatience |
| Fuck off | go away; mind your own business |
| Fuck you | used to direct your offense to someone |
| Gash | the vulva; women collectively regarded in sexual terms |
| Ginger | a derogatory term for a red-haired or ginger-haired person |
| Get stuffed | said in anger to tell someone to go away or as an expression of contempt |
| Git | an unpleasant, silly, incompetent, annoying, senile, elderly, or childish person |
| Goddamn | used for emphasis or to express annoyance |
| Hell | used to express annoyance or surprise or for emphasis |
| Holy shit | an expression of terror, awe, surprise, astonishment, etc. |
| Horseshit | nonsense |
| Jesus Christ | an expression of surprise, shock, or anger |
| Jesus fuck | an expression of anger, frustration, or shock |
| Jesus H. Christ | uttered in anger, surprise, or frustration, sometimes with humorous intent |
| Jesus Harold Christ | an expression of surprise, contempt, outrage, disgust, boredom, frustration |
| Jesus wept | an expression of annoyed incredulity |
| Jesus, Mary, and Joseph | an exclamation of shock, surprise, or exasperation |
| Judas Priest | an exclamation of exasperation or disgust |
| Knob | a penis |
| Minge | the female genitals; women considered as sexual objects |
| Minger | an unattractive or unpleasant person or thing |
| Munter | an insult for a person, often a woman, who is considered extremely ugly |
| Motherfucker | an offensive word for something/someone that you dislike or that has made you angry |
| Nigga | respelling of nigger (may be considered offensive if used by non-African Americans) |
| Pissed | very annoyed; angry; drunk |
| Piss off | leave or go away |
| Prick | a vulgar word for a penis; a pejorative term used to refer to a despicable or contemptible person |
| Punani | the female genitalia; intercourse with a woman |
| Pussy | a woman’s genitals; women in general, considered sexually; a weak, cowardly, or effeminate man |
| Rubbish | very bad; worthless or useless |
| Rut | engage in promiscuous or indiscriminate sexual activity |
| Shag | to have sex |
| Shit | feces; an exclamation of disgust, anger, or annoyance |
| Shit ass | a jerk; an inappropriately mean, inconsiderate, contemptible, obnoxious, intrusive, or rude person |
| Sisterfucker | an extremely undesirable person |
| Slut | a woman who has sexual relationships with a lot of men without any emotional involvement |
| Snatch | a woman’s genitals |
| Sod | an unpleasant or obnoxious person; used to express one’s anger or annoyance at someone or something |
| Sod-off | go away |
| Son of a bitch | used as a general term of contempt or abuse |
| Son of a whore | son of a prostitute; an objectionable person |
| Sweet Jesus | an exclamation of alarm, amazement, or exasperation |
| Take the piss out of | mock or make fun of (someone or something) |
| Tit | a woman’s breast or nipple |
| Tosser | a stupid or unpleasant person |
| Twat | a vagina; a stupid or unpleasant person |
| Wanker | a person who masturbates; a jerk; a dolt |
