List of fictional expletives
From Exampleproblems
This list of fictional expletives contains expletives invented by writers of fiction—often science fiction or fantasy—to add nuance to the fictional cultures in their work, and sometimes as a form of censorship.
Contents |
*
- --ing and ing - from Terry Pratchett's The Truth, used by Mr. Tulip at least once a sentence. The reader assumes that the word "fuck" is being censored, but it is revealed that Mr. Tulip is actually leaving a gap followed by "ing." The character Sacharissa Cripslock, a genteel woman, eventually adopts the word.
B
- b'zugda hiara From Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. A scathing insult in dwarfish, which translates to "lawn ornament"
- backbirth - from Firefly, meaning one born on a primitive or outer planet. It can also be used to imply someone is naive or stupid.
- baste - from Richard Adams' Maia and Shardik. Used as a replacement for fuck or sex. Severity changes dependent upon context.
- bastich - from 2000AD's Judge Dredd, Lobo, and the film Johnny Dangerously, a portmanteau of "bastard" and "bitch," and used in the same way as its source words.
- Belgium - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the galaxy except one, where they don't know what it means." The word first appeared in the radio series, and later replaced "fuck" in the censored American edition of the novel Life, the Universe and Everything. The character of Stingray Timmins on the soap opera Neighbours has also adopted this term.
- bippie - from Laugh-In, comical term for "ass" "You bet your sweet bippie." Also spelled "bippy".
- bitca - from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, curse word for a malevolent entity (coined by Xander Harris, from a mispronunciation of "bitch")
- bleep - from Larry Niven's Known Space stories; the bleep used to censor profanity eventually turned into a swearword itself.
- Blood and Ashes - from The Wheel of Time series. Similar meaning to "damn" or "damn it".
- Blood and Martyrs - from David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series. Similar meaning to "damn" or "damn it".
- boll-yotz - from Farscape; same meaning as "bullshit"
- bowb - from Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero series. Similar meaning to "to screw" or "to shaft". In the novel "it's always bowb-your-buddy week."
- Brownmillers - from Robert Anton Wilson's Schrödinger's Cat trilogy; same meaning as "tits". Is a derogatory reference to the feminist of the same name.
- buck - from That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis
- Burger - from Robert Anton Wilson's Schrödinger's Cat trilogy, meaning shit. Coined from the name of the Supreme Court justice.
C
- cake taker - expletive used towards a person on Neighbours
- cakesniffer - A favorite expletive of Carmelita Spats in her appearances in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Used as an insult, generally directed against the protagonists of that series: "You cakesniffer!" (Also featured on a spin-off t-shirt bearing the legend "I am not a cakesniffer.")
- Cardies - from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a racial epithet used against Cardassians (most commonly used by Miles O'Brien)
- censored - from Larry Niven's Known Space stories; like bleep, the word used to censor profanity in written texts turned into a swearword itself
- clinton - from Neighbours, used by Stingray Timmins.
- cop - from David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series; means "shit" as either a noun or a verb. Example: "The sergeant is going to cop a screaming worm when he finds out what you pulled."
- cruk - in Doctor Who: The New Adventures spin-off novels; same meaning as "fuck" (Happy Endings by Paul Cornell claims it originally came from a mid-21st century kids' TV show, in which "crukked" meant "tired")
D
- Dark, Dark take it - from The Seventh Tower Series by Garth Nix. Similar meaning to "damn" or "damn it".
- D' Arvit - from Artemis Fowl Gnomish swear word. Most people guess it means shit or damnit.
- drannit - from Farscape
- dren - from Farscape; same meaning as "shit"; possibly modification of German Dreck
- drok/drokk - from 2000AD's Judge Dredd; used as a general expletive; likely modification of German Dreck
E
- embleer - from Richard Adams's Watership Down; a Lapine adjective referring to the smell of a fox
F
- fahrbot - from Farscape; meaning insane or mentally deficient.
- farking iceholes - from the film Johnny Dangerously; self explanatory.
- feldercarb - from Battlestar Galactica (or feldergarb, felgercarb, or felgergarb) usage context appears to be similar to "bullshit" / also a term for garbage and/or mechanical sludge in more polite usage
- feth - from Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts novels, derivative of an ancient tree spirit. Multipurpose. Also used instead of 'fuck' in the webgame Alleria
- fewmets - from Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern novels; meaning "dragon droppings". From English word meaning "deer droppings". Used as a general expletive.
- fight - from This Perfect Day by Ira Levin. Set in the future, the population of the planet live in a time of sexual promiscuity, but abhor violence. Thus "fight" becomes an unacceptable swearword, but "fuck" is used casually: the opposite to how we use the words today.
- flup - from Larry Niven's Known Space stories (specifically the "RingWorld" stories); Used as "fuck" or "shit" but is revealed to mean the substance which pools at the bottom of rivers near the "spill mountains" on the ringworld due to the ringworld's construction
- focacciad - used by Stingray Timmins on Neighbours, means "fucked" or "screwed"
- frack, frak - from Battlestar Galactica (Same meaning as "fuck"). Also appeared in an early-1980s game on the BBC Micro called Frak!. A caveman called 'Trogg' would utter this word in a speech bubble when "killed". Presumably same meaning as "fuck". Hacked versions of the game substituted "fuck".
- frack-head - from new Battlestar Galactica miniseries, derived from "frack", substitution for "asshole": when the miniseries originally aired on SciFi channel the phrase "superior asshole" was used by Starbuck (Kara Thrace) - when later aired on NBC the phrase became "superior frack-head"
- motherfracker - derived from "frack" in parallel to "motherfucker". Used by deck hand Cally in Season 2, but apparently not standard usage, as Chief Tyrol finds the curse quite amusing
- frag - from Shadowrun and Lobo, same meaning as "fuck"; also from Babylon 5, where it's often used in the form "fraggin'". This expletive also appears in the Doom manual and some Warhammer 40,000 novels. Frag was derived from the practice of the same name in Vietnam where soldiers who couldn't take any more fighting killed their superior with a fragmentation grenade (hence "frag") to escape the lines.
- fraz - from David Feintuch's Seafort Saga, similar usage to "fuck"
- freebirth - from Battletech, used by cloned Clan warriors to insult naturally born ones.
- frek - from Farscape; same meaning as "fuck", but not as harsh as "frell" - but possibly the Luxembourg word "freck" used as the equivalent of "perish it"
- frell - from Farscape; same meaning as "fuck"
- frelnik - from Farscape
- frinx - from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; probably has same meaning as "fuck"
- Frith - name of the Sun in Richard Adams's Watership Down; Frith! and Frithrah! ("Lord Frith!") are general-purpose expletives, and as a real attention-getting blasphemy, "O embleer Frith!"
- fug - from The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer; used as a substitute for "fuck"
- fup - from Father Ted, Episode 4 - The Old Grey Whistle Theft. Used as a substitute for "fuck" (or even "feck") in a picnic area where no swearing is allowed. Also "fupping" as in "fup off you fupping pedrophile".
G
- gimboid - from Red Dwarf; one who is stupid or clumsy; possibly an adaptation of the word gimp
- globbits - from The Trap Door; "Oh, globbits!"
- godshit - from China Miéville's Bas-Lag universe in the novels Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council
- godspit - from China Miéville's Bas-Lag universe, possibly an euphemism for the above
- goit - from Red Dwarf; same meaning as "git"
- goofjuice - from David Feintuch's Seafort Saga, name of a highly addictive drug; mild expletive with similar usage to "nonsense" or "bullshit"
- gorram - from Firefly; same meaning as "goddamn"
- great Zot! - from the B.C. comic strip; same as "Good God!"
- greebol - from Farscape; same meaning as "idiot"
- green-blooded - from Star Trek, a racial epithet commonly used by Leonard McCoy against Spock, a Vulcan
- grife - from the Legion of Super Heroes comics. Used mainly as a substitute for religious imprecations, such as "God" or "Damn". Also used as a variant spelling for "grief" in the sense of "hard time".
- grode - from David Feintuch's Seafort Saga, similar usage to "jerk" or "asshole"
- groophar - Troll swearword from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, similar to "fucking" - described as "when a daddy troll an' a mummy troll—"
- Grozit - from Star Trek: New Frontier; similar meaning to 'dammit' or possibly 'fuckit'
- grud - from 2000AD's Judge Dredd A general expletive, though also used as a substitute for "God"
H
- Hab SoSlI' Quch! - from Klingon "Your Mother has a smooth forehead." Worst curse/insult in Klingon language. Implies the insultee's mother performed oral sex on the insulter.
- Hangdown - from The Gamblers Fortune by Juliett Mckenns, it refers to the genetalia.
- Hassak/Hashak - from Stargate, Goa'uld derogatory term, meaning weakling.
- Hataaka- from Stargate, Goa'uld derogatory term of uncertain meaning.
- helleshin - from James Blish's Cities In Flight; Vegan word of unknown meaning, used as a general curse.
- Hezmana - from Farscape; same meaning as "Hell"
- Hippikaloric - from Ozma of Oz by Frank Baum - "which must be a dreadful word because we don't know what it means".
- hraka - from Richard Adams's Watership Down; a Lapine noun referring to excretion. Only an expletive if used in such context.
- hunchin' - Adjective used for emphasis instead of "fucking", from the Tribes universe.
- Holy flerking shnit - Phrase used by Kang of The Simpsons in one of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. Derived from "Holy fucking shit."
J
- Jabber's arse - from China Miéville's Bas-Lag universe in the novels Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council
- jitat - from The Pirates of Dark Water; likely same meaning as "fuck"
- jongo-longo - from The Pirates of Dark Water; akin to "god damn"
- Jonny Freakinouter - from 21st Century Fox: Romantic Comedy of the Future; general purpose expletive
- joojooflop - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "One whole joojooflop situation"
K
- karakh - from Wing Commander; the Kilrathi word for "shit".
- kark - from Robert A. Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil; same meaning as "fuck". Alternatively, meaning "shit"; the protagonist is "so rich he karks on a gold pot."
- karkfum - from TV comedy show Fridays, sketch where little boy discovers new curse word
- Khadassa - from Katherine Kurtz's Deryni fantasy series; name of an evil bishop used as a general curse word
- khest - from John M. Ford's The Final Reflection; same meaning as "screw"
- kirie - from David Gerrold's Space Skimmer; the novel states that the word is 'a curse, pure and simple.'
- k'clow - from Traffic Department 2192, similar in meaning to "cunt"
- k'la - from Traffic Department 2192, similar in meaning to "faggot"
- klat - from James Bibby's Midworld series of books. Means fuck (as in both the expletive and the activity)
- Kraken - from Arthur C. Clarke's The Songs of Distant Earth; named after a large volcano on Thalassa, it's the only swear word on that planet
- k'r'roc - from Traffic Department 2192, similar in meaning to "fuck"
- krunk - from Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Multipurpose. It was coined before the slang term (which is spelled crunk), which is not an expletive.
L
- looma - breast. From Farscape
M
- mamacrusta - from Lilo & Stitch - a nasty curse word
- meb/mep - from Coneheads; a generic expletive
- meecrob - from South Park; a Thai food that Cartman claims is so disgusting it must be a curse word. Meekrob is one of the strange foods that Fillerbunny had to eat in the Jhonen Vasquez Comic Fillerbunny. It is also the name of the alien species that gave Dib his super-powers in a dream sequence in the short-lived cartoon Invader Zim.
- melon farmer(s) - Director Alex Cox used this to provide a TV-friendly alternative to motherfucker(s) when asked to provide an alternative dub for mainstream broadcasting. The term has been adopted by a British censorship-watch website
- mibs/mips - from Coneheads general purpose explitive
- mik'ta - from an episode of Stargate SG-1; same meaning as "ass"
- mivonks - from Farscape; same meaning as "testicles"
- mudblood - From Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, this is a vulgar word for someone with non-magical parents (e.g. Hermione)
- mud-sucker- From A-Team, a phrase most often used to describe Mr. T by Murdoch. Censor-friendly paraphrase of 'motherf***er', as in "You're one bad mud-sucker."
- munch - from the mid 90s children's puppet show "Mr. Potatohead," used in the same context as "bites." E.G. "Yeah, this really munches."
N
- naff - used in the same way as [fuck] in the 1970's BBC comedy Porridge; has not been considered a swear word for decades, but is used routinely to describe something as passe, tacky, or rubbish.
- nass - from the Legion of Super Heroes comics. Used mainly as a subsitute for "shit", or sometimes "ass"
- nerfherder - Often used in Star Wars as a relatively un-offensive curse word. It's like asshole or shithead but far weaker. It implies an unpleasant body odour.
- nerk - same meaning as idiot or jerk (e.g. "charmless nerk"); used in the BBC comedy Porridge; considered an extremely mild insult for decades.
- noi jitat - from The Pirates of Dark Water; more severe version of "jitat" (see above)
P
- photon - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to replace fuck or hell as in "What the photon happened?". Obviously derived from the photon in physics but added as a curse word to the show to add to the science-fiction.
- plimhole - from A Bit of Fry and Laurie with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, plimhole was used to replace cunt and circumvent the BBC's guidelines on swearwords. Hilarious in that moral guardian Mary Whitehouse complained that the sketch was obscene, because "Everybody knew what they were talking about".
- pock - from John Ringo and David Weber's Empire of Man novels; same meaning as "fuck".
- pointed-eared - from Star Trek, used as a racial epithet against Romulans and, less commonly, Vulcans
- poodoo - from various Star Wars films. Apparently used as a Huttese version of "shit". Commonly used to reference the excrement of the bantha herd animal - "You smell like Bantha poodoo."
- Potter Stewart - from Robert Anton Wilson's Schrödinger's Cat trilogy; same meaning as "fuck". Is a derogatory reference to the Supreme Court justice of the same name.
- pozza - from Discworld; a Ecksian term similar to "wanker"
- prong - from David Feintuch's Seafort Saga; same meaning as "fuck"
- prunt - from Frederik Pohl's novel The Years of the City. A portmanteau of "prick" and "cunt," and used in the same way as its source words.
- puckernuts - from Elfquest; similar meaning to "damn" or "damn it"
- p'tahk (or p'tak, pahtak, petaQ) - common Klingonese cursing or insult epithet
Q
- Qu'vatlh - from Klingon Kumburan, wIjngan and Daqawlu dialects; means whore or slut
R
- rassin-frassin - from Hanna-Barbera's Jetsons & Flintstones a derogatory adjective of some kind. Possible corruption of the German curse "Ratzen-Fressen" or "Rat Eating/Eater." Also uttered by Yosemite Sam in Warner Bros cartoons.
- Rehnquist - from Robert Anton Wilson's Schrödinger's Cat trilogy; same meaning as "cunt". Is a derogatory reference to the Supreme Court justice of the same name.
- r'ox - from Traffic Department 2192, similar in meaning to "bitch".
S
- savashri - from Battletech, used by members of the Clans
- scav - from Black Library's Kal Jerico comic strip, used as a general expletive. Possibly refers to "scavvies" who are a group of unintelligent, cannabalistic humanoids from Kal's fictitious homeplanet of Necromunda.
- scrof - An insult from Tribes, perhaps derived from "scrofulous".
- semprini - from Monty Python's Flying Circus television show. Never exactly defined, this is one of the words supposedly banned from the show. Used to refer to a part of the body, but is also the name of an aftershave.
- shards - from Anne McCaffery's Dragonriders of Pern novels. Used as a substitute for "shit", but apparently refers to the shell of a broken dragon egg.
- shavit - from various novels about the characters in Star Wars. Roughly translates to "shit".
- shazbot - from Mork & Mindy and later, the popular computer game series "Tribes" (Probably influenced by "shit")
- sheka - from the Shin'a'in language of Mercedes Lackey; substitute for "shit"
- shen - from Jacqueline Lichtenberg's Sime - Gen Universe; denotes the frustration experienced by a Sime when transfer of selyn from a Gen is interrupted; more severe forms are "shenshay" and "shenshid," and "Shen and shid!" is heard once.
- shifter - from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a highly offensive racial epithet for Changelings (comes from shape-shifter, the word Odo used to describe himself before he found his people).
- shock - from Marvel 2099 comics. Used mainly as a substitute for "fuck"
- shpadoinkle - from Cannibal! The Musical by Trey Parker. The word is used as as a curse, a general exclamation and a shout of joy. The word was originally invented by Trey Parker as a 'filler' word for the song which now bears its name. It was also used by Xander in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
- Silas - from Alleria, used instead of 'bastard'
- sithspit - from various novels and other works about the characters in Star Wars. Refers to the Sith. Most likely a substitute for "shit."
- sketi - from the Kaled'a'in language of Mercedes Lackey; used as a substitute for "shit."
- slag - from Alien Nation, a racial slur against the "newcomers" (aliens). Also from Beast Wars, most likely as a substitute for "shit". There are also real uses of the word slag, both legitimate and as a British slang word.
- slitch - from Robert Heinlein's novel Friday. A portmanteau of "slut" and "bitch," and used in the same way as its source words.
- smeg - from Red Dwarf, also "smeghead," rooted from smegma. Also credited to the original Monty Python episodes. Unclear whether "art imitated life" or "life imitated art".
- smoo - from Dinosaurs, called a "dirty word" because it means the bottom of a foot.
- smuck - from a Saturday Night Live sketch, used as a Smurfish term for fornication.
- smurf and derivatives - from The Smurfs, can be used as pretty much any word, including swear words.
- sneck - from Strontium Dog comic in 2000AD, a universal expletive.
- Snu-Snu - from the animated series Futurama, term for sexual intercourse on the planet of amazon women
- soaking cork - from a Saturday Night Live winery sketch, self explanatory.
- Spast - Uttered at least once by the character Kyle Katarn in the Star Wars computer game Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. Used in a similar context to "fuck" (as an exclamation).
- spiggen - Neighbours, originally used by Stingray Timmins but since used by other characters on the show as well, means "fucking" or "frigging", ie. "spiggen hell"
- spoonhead - from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a highly offensive racial epithet towards Cardassians
- spoot - from the Angry Beavers animated cartoons, meaning something close to "crap" (spoot-head another frequent usage)
- sprock - from the Legion of Super Heroes comics. Mainly as a substitute for "fuck"
- stang - general expression of discontent from novels and comics set in the Star Wars universe, including the X-Wing and Dark Empire series.
- stravag - from Battletech, used by members of the Clans
- stomm - from 2000AD's Mega-City One, meaning "shit"
- surat - from Battletech, used by members of the Clans, and refers to the fictional Surat, which is a cute bat-like animal.
- swut - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; "I just want to be swutting well rescued"
- sykes - from movie and TV series Alien Nation; literally translates as "Excrement cranium"
T
- taff or taffer - from Thief, but possibly from earlier English ethnic slur "Taffy" or "Taff" for a Welshman (purported to be thieves). The developers, however, independently invented the term.
- taHqeq - from Star Trek, a curse in Klingon.
- tanj - from Larry Niven's Known Space books (acronym of "there ain't no justice")
- Tarim - from Dave Sim's Cerebus comic books, in which Tarim was a deity.
- taxation - from L. Neil Smith's Probability Broach books in which a Libertarian alternate history follows the American revolution.
- Temple and Arch - from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. A general exclamation used by the character Door. Seems to mean something along the lines of "damn" or "what the hell."
- thoddo - from Farscape; same meaning as "idiot"
- Torak's Tooth - from the BBS game Legend of the Red Dragon. Used as expletive/expression of shock in David Eddings' Belgariad series of books, Torak being a warped/fallen god and the underlying antagonist.
- tralk - from Farscape; same meaning as "slut". Usually describes females, but can be used against any gender.
- tupping liberty - from John Allison's Scary Go Round comic, used by the character "Tim" as a general expletive. A tup is a ram (sheep), and the word "tup" is still used as a euphemism for fuck in northern England.
- turlingdrome - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- twunt - made up by Chris Morris on his Channel 4 series Jam, now used most often on b3ta
U
- unprintable - from Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire. (Also used frequently by Ernest Hemingway.)
V
- vandrook - from a Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Parnell. Most likely a substitute for "bitch". Parnell is aggravated, exclaiming "son of a vandrook!" causing Ferrell to incredulously reply, "Is that a real curse word?"
- Via - from David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series. Similar meaning to "My God!" or "Christ!", or possibly Jesus. Derived from the Latin word for "The Way", refers to a religious discipline.
- vulk - from C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy; derived from "vulcanism"/"volcano", to which the planet in question is prone.
W
- whomp - from Recess the animated series; same usage as "suck"
- wonker - from Discworld; same usage as "wanker", possibly just misspelled graffiti
- wrinklies - from Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, testicles/balls - both literally & figuratively
Y
- yotz - from Farscape; "What the yotz!", an exclamation of unpleasant surprise; same usage as "hell".
Z
- zark - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; seems to be a substitute for "fuck"; possibly a blasphemy on the Great Prophet Zarquon
- zarking fardwarks - from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "What in the name of zarking fardwarks is the old fool doing?" spoken by Ford Prefect, about Slartibartfast, originally in Life, the Universe and Everything and also in the third radio series. Also spoken as just "Zarking fardwarks!" by Arthur Dent when that character misses a telephone call in the fourth radio series. Approximate meaning: "fucking hell."
