{{Short description|English-language profanity}} {{Italic title}} {{About|the profanity}} {{Redirect|Fvck|the Demi Lovato album|Holy Fvck|the Kizz Daniel song|Fvck You}} {{pp-vandalism|small=yes}} {{pp-move}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} [[File:2017.04.15 -TaxMarch Washington, DC USA 02382 (34019086796).jpg|thumb|alt=A protester holding a cardboard sign that reads "FUCK YOUR WAR"|A protester's sign using the word on Tax March Day, April 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. U.S.]] '''''Fuck''''' ({{IPAc-en|f|ʌ|k}}) is a profanity in the English language that often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is most commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475.{{sfn|Sheidlower|2009|p=3}} In modern usage, the term ''fuck'' and its derivatives (such as ''fucker'' and ''fucking'') are used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an infix, an interjection, or an adverb. There are many common phrases that employ the word as well as compounds that incorporate it, such as ''motherfucker'' and ''fuck off''.
==Offensiveness== It is unclear whether the word has always been considered a pejorative or, if not, when it first came to be used to describe (often in an extremely angry, hostile, or belligerent manner) unpleasant circumstances or people in an intentionally offensive way, such as in the term ''motherfucker'', one of its more common usages in some parts of the English-speaking world. Some English-speaking countries censor it on television and radio. Andrea Millwood Hargrave's 2000 study of the attitudes of the British public found that ''fuck'' was considered the third-most-severe profanity, and its derivative ''motherfucker'' second. ''Cunt'' was considered the most severe.<ref name="Hargrave">{{cite web |last=Millwood Hargrave |first=Andrea |title=Delete Expletives?: Research Undertaken Jointly by the Advertising Standards Authority, British Broadcasting Corporation, Broadcasting Standards Commission and the Independent Television Commission |publisher=Advertising Standards Authority |year=2000 |access-date=June 1, 2013 |url=http://www.ligali.org/pdf/delete_expletives.pdf |archive-date=January 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105151536/http://www.ligali.org/pdf/delete_expletives.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Nevertheless, the word has increasingly become less of a pejorative and more publicly acceptable, an example of the "dysphemism treadmill" or semantic drift known as ''melioration,'' wherein former pejoratives become inoffensive and commonplace.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://journalism.uoregon.edu/~tbivins/J496/readings/LANGUAGE/euphemism_defandlist.pdf |title=Euphemism definitions and list |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=June 1, 2013 |work=Persuasion and Ethics |last=Bivins |first=Tom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103103431/http://journalism.uoregon.edu/~tbivins/J496/readings/LANGUAGE/euphemism_defandlist.pdf |archive-date=November 3, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Christian|first=Brian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ld-_V58W0PUC|title=The Most Human Human: What Talking with Computers Teaches Us About What It Means to Be Alive|date=2011-03-01|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-385-53307-2|pages=208|language=en|access-date=December 24, 2021|archive-date=July 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722091356/https://books.google.com/books?id=ld-_V58W0PUC|url-status=live}}</ref> Because of its increasing usage in the public forum, in 2005 the word was included for the first time as one of three vulgarities in The Canadian Press's ''Canadian Press Caps and Spelling'' guide. Journalists were advised to refrain from censoring the word but use it sparingly and only when its inclusion was essential to the story.<ref name="CPmanual">{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/1.524788 |title=New edition of Canadian Press handbook includes infamous four-letter word |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430213520/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/08/14/CP_manual_adds_four-letter_expletive20050815.html |archive-date=April 30, 2008 |publisher=CBC News |date=August 14, 2005|url-status=live |access-date=June 1, 2013}}</ref> According to linguist Pamela Hobbs, "notwithstanding its increasing public use, enduring cultural models that inform our beliefs about the nature of sexuality and sexual acts preserve its status as a vile utterance that continues to inspire moral outrage." Hobbs considers users rather than usage of the word and subdivides users into "non-users", for whom "the word belongs to a set of taboo words, the very utterance of which constitutes an affront, and any use of the word, regardless of its form (verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) or meaning (literal or metaphorical) evokes the core sexual meanings and associated sexual imagery that motivate the taboo"; and "users", for whom "metaphorical uses of the word ''fuck'' no more evoke images of sexual intercourse than does a ten-year-old's 'My mom'll kill me if she finds out' evokes images of murder" so that the "criteria of taboo are missing."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hobbs |first=Pamela |title=''Fuck'' as a metaphor for male sexual aggression |journal=Gender and Language |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=149–176 |doi=10.1558/genl.v7i2.149 |year=2013 |issn = 1747-6321 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224022106/http://home.earthlink.net/~p37954/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Fuck.pdf |url=http://home.earthlink.net/~p37954/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/Fuck.pdf |archive-date=February 24, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Etymology== ===Germanic cognates=== The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that the ultimate etymology is uncertain, but that the word is "probably cognate" with a number of Germanic words with meanings involving striking, rubbing, and having sex or is derivative of the Old French word that meant 'to have sex'.<ref name=oed>"Fuck." ''OED Online''. Draft Revision, June 2008. Oxford University Press. Accessed August 26, 2008 [http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50090566 OED.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120000310/http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50090566 |date=November 20, 2008 }} http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/previous-updates/march-2008-update/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120000310/http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50090566 |date=November 20, 2008 }}</ref>
The word has probable cognates in other Germanic languages, such as German {{lang|de|ficken}} ('to fuck'); Dutch {{lang|de|fokken}} ('to breed', 'to beget'); Afrikaans ''fok'' ('to fuck');<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=2021-09-28|title=When a word is befok ... (AGW 2021)|url=https://vloek.co.za/leesstof/kongresmateriaal/when-a-word-is-befok-agw-2021|access-date=2021-12-11|website=vloek.co.za|language=af-ZA|archive-date=October 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009063645/https://vloek.co.za/leesstof/kongresmateriaal/when-a-word-is-befok-agw-2021|url-status=live}}</ref> Icelandic ''fokka'' ('to mess around', 'to rush');<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Kroonen|first=Guus|publisher=Brill|title=Etymological dictionary of Proto-Germanic|date=2013|isbn=978-90-04-18340-7|location=Leiden|oclc=851754510}}</ref> dialectal Norwegian {{lang|no|fukka}} ('to copulate'); and dialectal Swedish {{lang|sv|focka}} ('to strike', 'to copulate') and {{lang|sv|fock}} ('penis').<ref name=oed /> This points to a possible etymology where Common Germanic ''*fuk(k)ōn-''from the verbal root ''*fug-'' ('to blow')<ref name=":0" /> comes from an Indo-European root ''*peuk-'', or ''*peuĝ-'' ('to strike'),<ref>{{Cite web|title=J. Pokorny's Indo-European Etymological Dictionary|url=https://indo-european.info/pokorny-etymological-dictionary/index.htm|access-date=2021-12-11|website=indo-european.info|archive-date=August 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210822180629/https://indo-european.info/pokorny-etymological-dictionary/index.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> cognate with non-Germanic words such as Latin {{lang|la|pugno}} ('I fight') or {{lang|la|pugnus}} ('fist').<ref name=oed /> By application of Grimm's law, this hypothetical root also has the Pre-Germanic form *''pug-néh<sub>2</sub>-'' (<nowiki>'to blow'</nowiki>),<ref name=":0" /> which is the etymon of, amongst others, Dutch ''fok(zeil)'' ('foresail').<ref>{{Cite web|title=Zoekresultaten|url=https://etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/fok1|access-date=2021-12-11|website=etymologiebank.nl|archive-date=October 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023021751/https://www.etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/fok1|url-status=live}}</ref> There is a theory that ''fuck'' is most likely derived from German or Dutch roots, and is probably not derived from an Old English root.<ref name="Sheidlower1998"/>
===False etymologies=== One reason that the word ''fuck'' is difficult to trace etymologically is that it was used far more extensively in common speech, rather than in easily traceable documents or writings. There exist multiple urban legends that advance false etymologies, including the word allegedly being an acronym. One of these urban legends is that the word ''fuck'' originated in Irish law. If a couple was caught committing adultery, the two would be punished "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge In the Nude", with "''FUCKIN"'' written on the stocks above to denote the crime. A variant of this legend alleges church clerks to have recorded the crime of "Forbidden Use of Carnal Knowledge". Another legend places the origin on a royal permission allegedly granted during the Middle Ages. Due to the Black Death and the consequent scarcity of resources, villages and towns supposedly attempted to control population growth by requiring permission to engage in intercourse. Royal permission (usually from a local magistrate or lord) is said to have required placing a sign visible from the road reading: "''Fornicating/Fornication Under Consent of King",'' later shortened to ''FUCK''. This story is not supported by written evidence, and has been proven false, but has persisted in oral and literary traditions for many years.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/fuck.asp |title=snopes.com: Etymology of Fuck |date=July 8, 2007 |work=Snopes.com |access-date=December 9, 2013 |archive-date=April 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417143143/http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/fuck.asp |url-status=live }}</ref>
Another legendary etymology, first made popular by the American radio show ''Car Talk,'' says that the phrase ''fuck you'' derives from ''pluck yew'' in connection with a misconception regarding the origins of the V sign. This misconception states that English archers believed that those who were captured by the French had their index and middle fingers cut off so that they could no longer operate their longbows, and that the V sign was used by uncaptured and victorious archers in a display of defiance against the French. The addition of the phrase ''fuck you'' to the misconception came when it was claimed that the English yelled that they could still ''pluck yew'', (yew wood being the preferred material for longbows at the time), a phrase that evolved into the modern ''fuck you''.<ref name="Sheidlower1998"/> In any event, the word ''fuck'' has been in use far too long for some of these supposed origins to be possible. Since no such acronym was ever recorded before the 1960s according to the lexicographical work ''The F-Word'', such claims create at best a so-called "backronym".{{sfn|Sheidlower|2009|p=1}}
==Grammar== In terms of its parts of speech, ''fuck'' has a very flexible role in English grammar, functioning as both a transitive and intransitive verb, and as an adjective, adverb, noun, and interjection.<ref name="oed" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=McCulloch |first1=Gretchen |author1-link=Gretchen McCulloch |title=A Linguist Explains the Syntax of 'Fuck' |url=https://the-toast.net/2014/12/09/linguist-explains-syntax-f-word/ |website=the Toast |access-date=January 12, 2021|date=December 9, 2014|url-status=live|archive-date=November 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101101133/https://the-toast.net/2014/12/09/linguist-explains-syntax-f-word/}}</ref> [[File:English-fuck-OED.svg|alt=Senses, uses and colloacations of fuck, its derived words, and compounds in the Oxford English Dictionary|thumb|Fuck and related constructions in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'']] Although the word itself is used in its literal sense to refer to sexual intercourse, its most common usage is figurative—to indicate the speaker's strong sentiment and to offend or shock the listener.<ref name="Salon">{{cite web|last=Mohr|first=Melissa|date=May 11, 2013|title=The modern history of swearing: Where all the dirtiest words come from|url=http://www.salon.com/2013/05/11/the_modern_history_of_swearing_where_all_the_dirtiest_words_come_from/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607114222/http://www.salon.com/2013/05/11/the_modern_history_of_swearing_where_all_the_dirtiest_words_come_from/|archive-date=June 7, 2013|access-date=June 3, 2013|work=Salon|ref=none}}</ref> Linguist Geoffrey Hughes found eight distinct usages for English curse words, and ''fuck'' can apply to each. For example, it fits in the "curse" sense (''fuck you!''), as well as the "personal" sense (''You fucker'').<ref name="Hughes" /> In the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', more than a hundred different senses, usages and collocations (like ''fuck around, fuck with s.o., fuck you, fuck me, fuck it'') are identified for ''fuck,'' its derived forms (like ''fucker, fuckee, fuckability''), and compounds with ''fuck'' (e.g. ''fuckfest, fuckhole, fuckface'').<ref name=":1" />
==Early usage== In 2015, Paul Booth argued that he had found "(possibly) the earliest known use of the word 'fuck' that clearly has a sexual connotation": in English court records of 1310–11, a man local to Chester is referred to as "Roger Fuckebythenavele", probably a nickname. "Either this refers to an inexperienced copulator, referring to someone trying to have sex with the navel, or it's a rather extravagant explanation for a dimwit, someone so stupid they think that this is the way to have sex", says Booth.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Paul |last=Booth |author-link=Paul Booth (historian) |title=An early fourteenth-century use of the F-word in Cheshire, 1310–11 |journal=Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire |volume=164 |year=2015 |pages=99–102|doi=10.3828/transactions.164.9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Pearl |first1=Mike |title=We Interviewed the Historian Who Just Found the Oldest Use of the Word 'Fuck' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/this-historian-just-found-the-oldest-use-of-fuck-920/ |access-date=October 24, 2015 |work=Vice |date=September 13, 2015 |quote=Paul Booth: "The significance is the occurrence of (possibly) the earliest known use of the word 'fuck' that clearly has a sexual connotation." |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017101232/http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/this-historian-just-found-the-oldest-use-of-fuck-920 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Wordsworth |first1=Dot |title=The remarkable discovery of Roger Fuckebythenavele: An exciting discovery in the records of the County Court of Chester – but it's probably not the oldest F-word |url=http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/the-remarkable-discovery-of-roger-fuckebythenavele/ |access-date=October 24, 2015 |work=The Spectator |date=September 26, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151101114206/http://new.spectator.co.uk/2015/09/the-remarkable-discovery-of-roger-fuckebythenavele/ |archive-date=November 1, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11861720/Earliest-use-of-f-word-discovered-in-court-records-from-1310.html |title=Earliest use of f-word discovered in court records from 1310 |work=The Daily Telegraph |author=Emily Gosden |date=September 13, 2015 |access-date=October 24, 2015 |archive-date=October 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151019223225/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11861720/Earliest-use-of-f-word-discovered-in-court-records-from-1310.html |url-status=live }}</ref> An earlier name, that of John le Fucker recorded in 1278, has been the subject of debate, but is thought by many philologists to have had some separate and non-sexual origin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Read |first1=Allen Walker |title=Milestones in the History of English in America |chapter = Where Does That Word Come From? |date=2002 |publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, North Carolina |isbn=0-8223-6526-X |pages=277–300|url=https://archive.org/details/milestonesinhist0000read/}}</ref>
Otherwise, the usually accepted first known occurrence of the word is found in code in a poem in a mixture of Latin and English composed in the 15th century. The poem, which satirizes the Carmelite friars of Cambridge, England, takes its title, "Flen flyys", from the first words of its opening line, ''Flen, flyys, and freris'' ('Fleas, flies, and friars'). The line that contains ''fuck'' reads ''Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk''. Deciphering the phrase ''gxddbou xxkxzt pg ifmk'', here by replacing each letter by the previous letter in alphabetical order, as the English alphabet was then, yields the macaronic ''non sunt in coeli, quia fuccant vvivys of heli'', which translated means, 'They are not in heaven, because they fuck the women of Ely'. The phrase was probably encoded because it accused monks of breaking their vows of celibacy;<ref name="Sheidlower1998">{{cite journal |title=Revising the F-Word |last=Sheidlower |first=Jesse |journal=Verbatim: The Language Quarterly |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=18–21 |date=Autumn 1998}}</ref> it is uncertain to what extent the word ''fuck'' was considered acceptable at the time. The stem of ''fuccant'' is an English word used as Latin.<ref name="ah">{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|fuck}}</ref> In the Middle English of this poem, the term ''wife'' was still used generically for 'woman'.<ref group="‡">{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/woman |title=woman |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=July 8, 2020 |archive-date=June 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624223156/https://www.etymonline.com/word/woman |url-status=live }}</ref>
William Dunbar's 1503 poem "Brash of Wowing" includes the lines: "Yit be his feiris he wald haue fukkit: / Ye brek my hairt, my bony ane" (ll. 13–14).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dunbar |first1=William |title=Selected poems |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0415969433 |page=45 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsuWgURbZzQC&pg=PA45 |access-date=February 8, 2021 |archive-date=July 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722091356/https://books.google.com/books?id=RsuWgURbZzQC&pg=PA45 |url-status=live }}</ref>
The oldest known occurrence of the word in adjectival form (which implies use of the verb) in English comes from the margins of a 1528 manuscript copy of Cicero's ''De Officiis''. A monk had scrawled in the margin notes, "fuckin Abbot". Whether the monk meant the word literally, to accuse this abbot of "questionable monastic morals", or whether he used it "as an intensifier, to convey his extreme dismay" is unclear.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/the-very-first-written-use-of-the-f-word-in-english-1528.html |title=The Very First Written Use of the F Word in English (1528) |last1=Marshall |first1=Colin |date=February 11, 2014 |website=openculture |access-date=February 25, 2014 |archive-date=March 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301150850/http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/the-very-first-written-use-of-the-f-word-in-english-1528.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
John Florio's 1598 Italian–English dictionary, ''A Worlde of Wordes'', included the term, along with several now-archaic, but then-vulgar synonyms, in this definition: * Fottere: ''To jape, to sard, to fucke, to swive, to occupy.''<ref name="Hughes">{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=Geoffrey |title=Fuck |journal=An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World |date=2006 |url=http://www.omnilogos.com/2014/11/fuck.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150124223531/http://www.omnilogos.com/2014/11/fuck.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2015}}</ref> Of these, "occupy" and "jape" still survive as verbs, though with less profane meanings, while "sard" was a descendant of the Anglo-Saxon verb ''seordan'' (or ''seorðan'', ON ''serða''), to copulate; and "swive" had derived from earlier ''swīfan'', to revolve i.e. to swivel (compare modern-day "screw"). As late as the 18th century, the verb ''occupy'' was seldom used in print because it carried sexual overtones.<ref>{{cite book |last=Silverton |first=Peter |author-link=Joe Bloggs |date=2011 |title=Filthy English: The How, Why, When and What of Everyday Swearing |publisher=Portobello Books |location=London |isbn=9781846274527 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSErq0ssG74C&pg=PT25 |access-date=July 4, 2018 |archive-date=January 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127113927/https://books.google.com/books?id=xSErq0ssG74C&pg=PT25 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref group="‡">{{cite web |title=occupy |work=Oxford Dictionaries |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/occupy |access-date=July 4, 2018 |archive-date=July 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705003751/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/occupy |url-status=dead }}</ref>
A 1790 poem by St. George Tucker has a father upset with his bookish son say "I'd not give [a fuck] for all you've read". Originally printed as "I'd not give ------ for all you've read", scholars agree that the words ''a fuck'' were removed, making the poem the first recorded instance of the now-common phrase ''I don't give a fuck''.{{sfn|Mohr|2013|pp=215–216}}
Farmer and Henley's 1893 dictionary of slang notes both the adverbial and adjectival forms of ''fuck'' as similar to but "more violent" than ''bloody'' and indicating extreme insult, respectively.<ref name="Salon"/>
==Modern usage== The modern usage and flexibility of ''fuck'' was established by the mid-to-late 19th century, and has been fairly stable since.<ref name="Salon"/> Most literally, to ''fuck'' is to have sex, but it is also used as a more general expletive or intensifier.<ref name="dictionary.com" group="‡">{{Dictionary.com|fuck|access-date=February 9, 2021}}</ref> [[File:2015 - La guitare « fumante » d'Ace Frehley - Hellfest (cropped).jpg|thumb|Guitarist Ace Frehley with T-shirt "New York Fuckin City"]] Insertion of the trochaic word ''fucking'' can also be used as an exercise for diagnosing the cadence of an English-language word. This is the use of ''fuck'' or more specifically ''fucking'' as an infix, or more properly, a tmesis (see expletive infixation). For example, the word ''in-fucking-credible'' sounds acceptable to the English ear, and is in fairly common use, while *''incred-fucking-ible'' would sound very clumsy (though, depending on the context, this might be perceived as a humorous improvisation of the word). ''Abso-fucking-lutely'' and ''motherfucking'' are also common uses of ''fuck'' as an affix.<ref name="McMillan">{{cite journal | last = McMillan | first = James B. | year = 1980 | title = Infixing and Interposing in English | journal = American Speech | volume = 55 | issue = 3 | pages = 163–183 | doi = 10.2307/455082 | jstor = 455082}}</ref> While neither dysphemistic nor connected to the sexual connotations of the word, even the vacuous usages are considered offensive and gratuitous, such as ''This is fucking awesome!''<ref name="dictionary.com" group="‡" /> ''Fuck'' has colloquial usage as a verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, interjection, noun, and pronoun.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vernon |first1=Jesse |title=A Scholarly Explication of ''Fuck'' |url=https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/09/24/a-scholarly-explication-of-fuck |website=The Stranger |access-date=March 4, 2021 |date=September 24, 2009 |archive-date=May 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517230352/https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/09/24/a-scholarly-explication-of-fuck |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Tank on Flamenco Beach 2.jpg|thumb|"WTF?" spray painted on the rear of a Sherman tank left over from US military shelling practice on Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico|320x320px]]
{{anchor|WTF}} The word ''fuck'' is a component of many acronyms, some of which—like SNAFU (Situation Normal: All Fucked Up) and FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition)—date as far back as World War II.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year=2005|title=fubar, ''adj''.|encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|edition=third}}</ref> MILF (Mother I'd Like to Fuck) and variations of the first letter are widely seen in pornographic contexts.<ref name="dictionary.com-milf" group="‡">{{cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/acronyms/milf/|title=MILF|work=Dictionary.com Unabridged|publisher=Random House|access-date=February 9, 2021|archive-date=March 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304153538/https://www.dictionary.com/e/acronyms/milf/|url-status=live}}</ref> Many more recent coinages, such as the shorthand ''WTF?'' for 'what the fuck',<ref name="dictionary.com-wtf" group="‡">{{Dictionary.com|WTF|access-date=February 15, 2021}}</ref> ''STFU'' for 'shut the fuck up',<ref name="dictionary.com-stfu" group="‡">{{cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/acronyms/stfu/|title=STFU|work=Dictionary.com Unabridged|publisher=Random House|access-date=February 15, 2021|archive-date=January 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113121550/https://www.dictionary.com/e/acronyms/stfu/|url-status=live}}</ref> or ''FML'' for 'fuck my life',<ref name="dictionary.com-fml" group="‡">{{cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/fml/|title=FML|work=Dictionary.com Unabridged|publisher=Random House|access-date=February 15, 2021|archive-date=April 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417043900/https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/fml/|url-status=live}}</ref> have been widely extant on the Internet, and may count as examples of internet memes. Many acronyms will also have an ''F'' or ''MF'' added to increase emphasis; for example, ''OMG'' ('oh my God') becomes ''OMFG'' ('oh my fucking God'). Abbreviations involving ''fuck'' can be considered less offensive than ''fuck'' itself.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carey |first1=Stan |title=OMFG! Sweary Abbreviations FTFW! |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/04/omfg-ffs-wtf-a-deep-dive-into-sweary-abbreviations.html |website=Slate |access-date=February 15, 2021 |date=April 27, 2015 |archive-date=May 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507154651/https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/04/omfg-ffs-wtf-a-deep-dive-into-sweary-abbreviations.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Although the word is proclaimed vulgar, several comedians rely on ''fuck'' for comedic routines. George Carlin created several literary works based upon the word, including his routine "seven dirty words"—words that were bleep censored on US television.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bella |first1=Timothy |title=The '7 Dirty Words' Turn 40, but They're Still Dirty |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/the-7-dirty-words-turn-40-but-theyre-still-dirty/257374/ |website=The Atlantic |access-date=February 15, 2021 |date=May 24, 2012 |archive-date=January 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102214426/http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/the-7-dirty-words-turn-40-but-theyre-still-dirty/257374/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
{{anchor|Fuck all}} "Fuck all" is a widely recognised, mainly in the United Kingdom and Australia,<ref>{{cite web | last=Wood | first=Alan | title=F 🇦🇺 Words & Phrases in the Illustrated Dictionary of Australian English | website=alanwood.au | url=http://www.alanwood.id.au/aussie-english/f.html | access-date=2025-10-24}}</ref> expression meaning "none", "nothing", or "very little".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fuck-all|title=Fuck All | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary|access-date=December 21, 2023|archive-date=February 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230218185421/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fuck-all|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fuck+all|title=Definition of Fuck All|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=December 31, 2023|archive-date=May 22, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522094411/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fuck%20all|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Examples of more recent usage=== In 1928, English writer D. H. Lawrence's novel ''Lady Chatterley's Lover'' gained notoriety for its frequent use of the words ''fuck'' and ''fucking''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Robertson |first1=Geoffrey |title=The trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/22/dh-lawrence-lady-chatterley-trial |website=The Guardian |access-date=February 9, 2021 |date=October 22, 2010 |archive-date=December 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201211541/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/22/dh-lawrence-lady-chatterley-trial |url-status=live }}</ref> ''The Catcher in the Rye'' by J. D. Salinger featured the use of ''fuck you'' in print. First published in the United States in 1951, the novel remains controversial to this day due in part to its use of the word,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Slawenski |first1=Kenneth |title=Holden Caulfield's Goddam War |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/02/salinger-201102 |website=Vanity Fair |access-date=February 9, 2021 |date=January 20, 2011 |archive-date=March 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327142427/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/02/salinger-201102 |url-status=live }}</ref> standing at number 13 for the most banned books from 1990 to 2000 according to the American Library Association.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=85714 |title=ALA 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 |publisher=American Library Association |date=July 20, 2009 |access-date=January 13, 2014 |archive-date=September 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928090419/http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=bbwlinks&Template=%2FContentManagement%2FContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=85714 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Actress Miriam Margolyes has claimed that she was the first to unintentionally say the word on the quiz show ''University Challenge'' in 1963; representing Newnham College, Cambridge. She claims to have uttered the word in frustration over an incorrect answer.<ref name=ohs>{{Cite web |title=Miriam Margolyes |work=Oxford High |url=https://oxfordhigh.gdst.net/pioneer/miriam-margolyes/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725045635/https://oxfordhigh.gdst.net/pioneer/miriam-margolyes/ |archive-date=25 July 2020 |access-date=24 July 2020 |publisher=Oxford High School}}</ref> The word was "bleeped out" for transmission.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39482317|title=Why do University Challenge contestants go viral?|work=BBC News |date=9 April 2017|accessdate=24 January 2025}}</ref><ref>''University Challenge The Story So Far – Documentary'', Granada for BBC, aired by BBC 27 December 27, 2008, 14:15</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/graham-norton-show-best-funniest-guests/miriam-margolyes/|title=The Graham Norton Show: the 15 funniest guests|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=29 September 2017|via=www.telegraph.co.uk|access-date=13 February 2019|archive-date=13 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190213123826/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/graham-norton-show-best-funniest-guests/miriam-margolyes/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the first documented deliberate use of the word ''fuck'' on live British television has been attributed to theatre critic Kenneth Tynan in 1965, though it has been claimed Irish playwright Brendan Behan used the word on ''Panorama'' in 1956 or the man who painted the railings on Stranmillis Embankment alongside the River Lagan in Belfast, who in 1959 told Ulster TV's teatime magazine programme ''Roundabout'' that his job was "fucking boring".<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/16/tvs-five-magic-moments Television's magic moments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714225459/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/16/tvs-five-magic-moments |date=July 14, 2014 }} ''The Guardian'', August 16, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.</ref>
The Bill Grundy incident was a controversy that ensued in 1976 when ''Today'' host Bill Grundy interviewed the Sex Pistols, after guitarist Steve Jones called Grundy a "dirty fucker" and a "fucking rotter".<ref>{{cite news |author=Mark Lawson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/feb/05/broadcasting.britishidentityandsociety |title=Has swearing lost its power to shock? | UK news |newspaper=The Guardian |date=February 5, 2004 |access-date=November 11, 2011 |location=London |archive-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821044158/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/feb/05/broadcasting.britishidentityandsociety |url-status=live }}</ref>
The word began to break into cinema when it was uttered once in the film ''Vapor'' (1963) and in two Andy Warhol films – ''Poor Little Rich Girl'' (1965) and ''My Hustler'' (1965),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIrkIgQ3e4|title=First films to use 'fuck' and 'cunt' words in movie history (1963–1976)|website=YouTube|date=February 18, 2019 |access-date=February 19, 2019|archive-date=February 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200229175749/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbIrkIgQ3e4&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> and later in each of two 1967 British releases, ''Ulysses'' and ''I'll Never Forget What's'isname''. It was used several times in the 1969 British film ''Bronco Bullfrog''.<ref>[http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/bronco-bullfrog-1969 BBFC page for Bronco Bullfrog] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124154333/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/bronco-bullfrog-1969 |date=November 24, 2016 }}, under "insight" section – ''LANGUAGE: Infrequent strong language ('f**k') occurs, as well as a single written use of very strong language ('c**t') which appears as graffiti on a wall.''</ref> According to director Robert Altman, the first time the word ''fuck'' was used in a major American studio film was in 1970's ''M*A*S*H'', spoken by Painless during the football match at the end of the film.<ref>''M*A*S*H'' (1970) DVD commentary</ref>
Early examples of the word "fuck" featuring in music, although adlibbed in the studio rather than being a true part of the lyrics, include drummer Lynn Easton's exclamation 55 seconds into the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" (1963), or the discreet "fucking hell" buried in the mix of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" (1968).<ref name="Golsen">{{cite web |last1=Golsen |first1=Tyler |title=What was the first song to include the word "fuck"? |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/what-was-the-first-song-to-include-the-word-fuck/ |website=Far Out |access-date=29 July 2025 |date=24 October 2023}}</ref> MC5 and Jefferson Airplane both used the term "motherfuckers" on their respective 1969 songs "Kick Out the Jams" (from MC5's live album of the same name) and "We Can Be Together" (from ''Volunteers''). Elektra Records created a request clean version of ''Kick Out the Jams'' for those offended by the MC5's usage, whereas RCA Records initially refused to release ''Volunteers'' uncensored until the band pointed out the label had already released the ''Hair'' cast recording with the term.<ref name="Golsen" /> Use of the term "fuck" was still a rare occurrence on rock records in 1976 when the band Doctors of Madness used the word in their song "Out".<ref name="Reynolds">{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Reynolds |title=Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy |date=2016 |publisher=Faber & Faber |location=London |page=536 |isbn=978-0-571-30171-3 }}</ref> The Sex Pistols also notoriously used the term on music a year later.<ref name="Reynolds" />
===Use in politics=== [[File:Berkeley 8 27 17-7123 (36887356645).jpg|thumb|320x320px|Antifa rally at Berkeley protests on August 27, 2017]] ''Fuck'' is not widely used in politics, and political norms often establish the use of profanity as taboo. When politicians say "fuck", they may be perceived as expressing exasperation, and their language can be lauded as straightforward communication or criticised as vulgar.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shulist |first=Sarah |last2=McElgunn |first2=Hannah |date=October 7, 2022 |title=Politicians dropping the F-bomb: There’s more to it than you might think |url=https://theconversation.com/politicians-dropping-the-f-bomb-theres-more-to-it-than-you-might-think-191656 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250912111021/https://theconversation.com/politicians-dropping-the-f-bomb-theres-more-to-it-than-you-might-think-191656 |archive-date=September 12, 2025 |access-date=January 5, 2026 |website=The Conversation}}</ref>
===Use in marketing=== In April 1997, clothing retailer French Connection began branding their clothes with ''fcuk'' (usually written in lowercase), stating it was an acronym for "French Connection United Kingdom". Its similarity to the word ''fuck'' caused controversy.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1258961.stm "Time called on FCUK posters"], BBC News, April 4, 2001</ref> French Connection produced a range of T-shirts with messages such as "fcuk this", "hot as fcuk", "cool as fcuk", "fcuk fashion", etc.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bines |first1=Ari |title=FCUK By French Connection Is Coming & It's BOLD AF |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/fcuk-by-french-connection-is-coming-its-bold-af-19261889 |website=Bustle |access-date=February 24, 2021 |date=October 23, 2019 |archive-date=June 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613003157/https://www.bustle.com/p/fcuk-by-french-connection-is-coming-its-bold-af-19261889 |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 2009, the European Union's OHIM trade marks agency disallowed a German brewery to market a beer called "Fucking Hell". The brewery sued, and on March 26, 2010, got permission to market the beer. The company argued that it was actually named after the Austrian village of Fucking (now spelled Fugging) and the German term for light beer, ''hell'' (which is simply the word for "light-coloured").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/german-beer-can-call-itself-fking-hell |title=German beer can call itself fking hell |publisher=RNW.nl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329153706/http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/german-beer-can-call-itself-fking-hell |archive-date=March 29, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
''Iancu v. Brunetti'' is a United States Supreme Court case in which the owner of the clothing brand FUCT (supposedly standing for "Friends U Can't Trust") sued the Patent and Trademark Office, which refused to trademark the name for being "scandalous" under the Lanham Act.<ref>{{cite news |title=Supreme Court to weigh foul language trademark – CNN Video |url=https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/13/friends-u-cant-trust-trademark-case-supreme-court-unfiltered-sot-vpx.cnn |access-date=April 18, 2019 |work=CNN |archive-date=April 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417103902/https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/13/friends-u-cant-trust-trademark-case-supreme-court-unfiltered-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/atv-trending-videos/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that a provision in {{uscsub|15|1052|a}} of the Act, denying registration to any trademarks seen as consisting of immoral or scandalous matter, was an unconstitutional restriction of applicants' freedom of speech.<ref name="fortune decision">{{cite web | url = http://fortune.com/2019/06/24/fuct-clothing-meaning-supreme-court/ | title = FUCT Clothing Can Now Get Trademark Protection, Supreme Court Rules | first = Terry | last = Collins | date = June 24, 2019 | access-date = June 24, 2019 | work = Fortune | archive-date = June 24, 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190624171307/http://fortune.com/2019/06/24/fuct-clothing-meaning-supreme-court/ | url-status = live }}</ref>
===Band names=== The word ''fuck'' has been used in a number of band names, such as Fucked Up, generally based on common compounds. Many of these bands fall into the genres of punk and metal, while some fall into the categories of electronic rock and pop, such as Holy Fuck<ref name="exclaimmag">{{cite web |author=Sutherland, Sam |title=What the Fuck? Curse Word Band Names Challenge The Music Industry |url=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/what_fuck-curse_word_band_names_challenge_music |work=Exclaim! Magazine |year=2007 |access-date=October 30, 2007 |archive-date=January 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103013030/http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/what_fuck-curse_word_band_names_challenge_music |url-status=live }}</ref> and Fuck Buttons.<ref name="vice">{{cite web |author=Lindsay, Cam |title=How do Fuck Buttons Pronounce Their Name to Children? |url=https://www.vice.com/da/article/how-the-fuck-buttons-talk-to-children/ |work=Vice |year=2013 |access-date=November 11, 2022 |archive-date=March 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307200408/https://www.vice.com/da/article/6e54k6/how-the-fuck-buttons-talk-to-children |url-status=live }}</ref>
===''F-bomb''=== The phrase ''dropping an F-bomb'' usually refers to the unanticipated use of the word ''fuck'' in an unexpected setting, such as public media, a play on the nickname for the hydrogen bomb (the "H-bomb")<ref name="dictionary.com-f-bomb" group="‡">{{dictionary.com|f-bomb|access-date=March 4, 2021}}</ref> and the shock value that using the word ''fuck'' in discourse carries. The term was first reported in a newspaper (''Newsday'') in 1988 when Hall of Fame baseball catcher Gary Carter used it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/08/14/the_f_bomb_and_gary_carter_did_the_late_mets_catcher_invent_the_phrase_.html |title=The F-Bomb and Gary Carter: Did the late Mets catcher invent the phrase? |date=August 14, 2012 |work=Slate Magazine |access-date=November 16, 2015 |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117031806/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/08/14/the_f_bomb_and_gary_carter_did_the_late_mets_catcher_invent_the_phrase_.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2012, it was listed, for the first time, in the mainstream ''Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Italie |first=Leanne |title=F-bomb makes it into mainstream dictionary |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/13/f-bomb-makes-it-mainstream-dictionary/ |newspaper=The Washington Times |access-date=August 15, 2012 |archive-date=August 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815100944/http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/13/f-bomb-makes-it-mainstream-dictionary/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Censorship== In the United States, the word is frequently edited out of music and films when broadcast on TV, such as in the film ''The Big Lebowski'', when John Goodman's character repeatedly yells, "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass". It was censored on television as "This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/22717626/lebowski_on_the_web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080830043147/https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/22717626/lebowski_on_the_web |archive-date= August 30, 2008 |title=Lebowski on the web |url-status=dead |magazine=Rolling Stone }}</ref> The line inspired the title of singer Phoebe Bridgers's first album, ''Stranger In The Alps''.<ref>{{cite web | title=Phoebe Bridgers' debut album was inspired by 'The Big Lebowski' | date=September 7, 2023 | url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-phoebe-bridgers-debut-album-was-inspired-by-the-big-lebowski/ }}</ref>
In 1971, the US Supreme Court decided that the public display of ''fuck'' is protected under the First and Fourteenth amendments and cannot be made a criminal offense. In 1968, Paul Robert Cohen had been convicted of disturbing the peace for wearing a jacket with the slogan "Fuck the Draft" (in a reference to conscription in the Vietnam War). The conviction was upheld by the court of appeals and overturned by the Supreme Court in ''Cohen v. California''.<ref>''Cohen v. California'', 403 US 15 (1971).</ref>
==Common alternatives== {{Main|Minced oath}}
In conversation or writing, reference to or use of the word ''fuck'' may be replaced by any of many alternative words or phrases, including ''the F-word'' or ''the F-bomb'' (a play on ''A-bomb'' and ''H-bomb''), or simply, ''eff'' or ''f'' (as in ''What the eff/F'' or ''You effing/f'ing fool''). Also, there are many commonly used substitutes, such as ''flipping'', ''frigging'', ''fricking'', ''freaking'', ''feck'', ''fudge'', ''flaming'', ''forget'' or any of a number of similar-sounding nonsense words. In print, there are alternatives such as, ''F***'', ''F––k'', etc.; or a string of non-alphanumeric characters, for example, ''@$#*%!'' and similar (especially favored in comic books).<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Lexicon of Comicana|last=Walker|first=Michael|date=March 21, 2000|publisher= iUniverse |isbn=978-0595089024|language=en}}</ref>
A replacement word that was used mainly on Usenet newsgroups is ''fsck'', derived from the name of the Unix ''f''ile ''s''ystem ''c''hec''k''ing utility.<ref>{{cite newsgroup |first=David D. Jr. |last=Huff |title=Re: Mandrake 8.2 Musings |newsgroup=alt.os.linux.mandrake |year=2002 |url=https://groups.google.com/group/alt.os.linux.mandrake/msg/3641a310fcc6ed93?dmode=source |quote=At some point in your Linux career you should ask yourself: 'If there are 3.4 million successful, happy Mandrake users...what the ''fsck'' is wrong with me?' |access-date=May 10, 2016 |archive-date=November 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110153828/http://groups.google.com/group/alt.os.linux.mandrake/msg/3641a310fcc6ed93?dmode=source |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/oldversions/jarg415.txt |title=fscking |work=The Jargon File |date=September 24, 1999 |author-link=Eric S. Raymond |last=Raymond |first=Eric S |quote=fcking: /fus'-king/ or /eff'-seek-ing/ adj. [Usenet; common] ''Fucking'', in the expletive sense (it refers to the Unix filesystem-repair command fsck(1), of which it can be said that if you have to use it at all you are having a bad day). Originated on {scary devil monastery} and the bofh.net newsgroups, but became much more widespread following the passage of {CDA}. Also occasionally seen in the variant 'What the fsck?'{{hair space}}|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5mVBHbWKJ?url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/oldversions/jarg415.txt |archive-date=January 3, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Language|Human sexuality|Society}} * {{annotated link|Army creole}} * {{annotated link|Four-letter word}} * {{annotated link|Harcourt interpolation}} * {{section link|List of common false etymologies of English words|Profanity}} * List of films that most frequently use the word fuck * {{annotated link|Madonna on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1994|Madonna on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' in 1994}} * {{annotated link|Profanity}} * {{annotated link|Russian warship, go fuck yourself|''Russian warship, go fuck yourself''}} * {{annotated link|Seven dirty words}} * {{annotated link|Sexual slang}} * {{annotated link|Shit}} * The finger (aka the middle finger), a related hand gesture * {{annotated link|The Pope Song}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
===Dictionaries=== {{Reflist|group=‡}}
==Sources== {{Refbegin}} *{{cite book |last1=Sheidlower |first1=Jesse |title=The F-word |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-975155-6 |edition=3rd|year=2009}} *{{cite book |last1=Mohr |first1=Melissa |title=Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0199742677}} {{Refend}}
==External links== {{Sister project links|n=no|q=no|s=no|b=no|v=no}} {{Sexual slang}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuck}} Category:English profanity Category:English words Category:Etymologies Category:Interjections Category:Sexual slang