the fuck

English

Etymology

Perhaps modelled after the hell, short for in the hell as in "What in the hell, ...".

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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• Audio (US, as a question):

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Phrase

the fuck

1. (vulgar, slang) Used with an interrogative pronoun as an intensifier to express anger, frustration, incredulity, or other strong emotion.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:the dickens

   • 2010 January 28, Stephen Metcalf, “Salinger’s Genius”, in Slate‎, New York, N.Y.: The Slate Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-21:

     So the man didn't like publicity; so the fuck what?

   • 2011 April 29, Tim Jonze, quoting Cat Deeley, “Nerdy but nice”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-15:

     "Let me get you a glass!" she beams, then drags me to the adjacent room to see her press officer, hairdresser and makeup artist tucking into food and fizz. "Look at this!" she says, mock-appalled at the scene. "Seriously, what the fuck is this about?"

   • 2016 June 19, “Brexit” (14:33 from the start), in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver‎, season 3, episode 16, via HBO:

     Poland is depressing and there's vampires in Romania. Spain is far too hot and where the fuck is Lithuania?

2. (vulgar, slang) Used after verbs forming a part of a phrasal verb as an intensifier to imply aggressive emphasis.

   Shut the fuck up.

   Calm the fuck down!

   Back the fuck off!

   Stay the fuck away from me!

   Hurry the fuck up.

   Let's get the fuck out.

   • 2004, Pun Plamondon, Lost from the Ottawa, page 84:

     “Get the fuck out of my house!” Sinclair bellowed, his face red, eyes bulging.

   • 2007, Ron Liebman, Death by Rodrigo, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 134:

     Ponytail tells fat boy, Drive the fuck off, get us out of here. He keeps the window down, still death-staring, You mine, motherfucker, wait and see, at Mickie.

3. (vulgar, slang, by ellipsis) Used as a shortened form of the common interrogative phrases.

   The fuck did you come from? ― Where the fuck did you come from?

   The fuck do you know all of this!? ― How the fuck do you know all of this?

   The fuck was that? ― What the fuck was that?

   The fuck you think you are?! ― Who the fuck do you think you are?

   The fuck? ― (said incredulously; also as what the fuck?)

4. (vulgar, slang) Used to emphatically express that something isn't true.

   —Mom, I'm going out with my friends tonight. —The fuck you are!

   Guess what i'm doing? I’m going to use fake blood to become a badass! The fuck you were!

   Hey! I’m about leave the loud party in this building! The fuck it isn't.

   • 1997, Robert Stone, Dog Soldiers, page 88:

     ‘You're not a self-respecting person.’
     ‘The fuck I ain't,’ the kid said.

5. (vulgar, slang, African-American Vernacular) Used to emphasize an adjective; fucking.

   I'm feeling the fuck good today.

   • 2005, Daaimah S. Poole, What's Real, New York, N.Y.: Dafina Books, →ISBN, page 113:

     "Not really. It was okay. Fucking Natalie's cousin was down there thinking she was the fuck cute. That bitch came up! She met a fucking dude that play for the damn NFL," I said as I sat down.

   • 2016, Ioan Grillo, Gangster Warlords: Drug Dollars, Killing Fields, and the New Politics of Latin America, New York, N.Y. […]: Bloomsbury Press, →ISBN, page 349:

     Dudley [Althaus] taught me countless things about being a journalist. But the best advice was in three words: "Maybe I'm wrong." You get into a story. You think you have it figured out. But wait, "Maybe I'm the fuck wrong." Then you get deeper into it and discover things you had never thought of.

   • 2019, Tonya Williams, Give Them a Reason to Hate You Shawty: A Hood Love Story, Shan Presents, →ISBN, page 161:

     "You can come over whenever you want to. I just got my stuff settled in here. You gon have to mind the place cause I haven't put anything up yet. I stay in Dunwoody. Close to Perimeter," I threw in there, so she would know that I was living the fuck goodt.

   • 2023 August 4, @mainbitchclique, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 19 January 2024:

     rihanna ate kiss it better so tf bad

Derived terms

• dafuq (said incredulously and used for less serious situations)

• BTFO
• GTFIH
• GTFO
• GTFOH
• GTFOHWTBS
• GTFOI
• GTFOOH
• how the fuck
• HTF
• scare the fuck out of
• STFU
• TF
• tf
• TFYM
• tfym
• what the fuck
• when the fuck
• where the fuck
• who the fuck
• why the fuck

 

Related terms

• -fucking-

Translations

vulgar: intensifier used after interrogative pronouns

Bulgarian: да еба (da eba), хуя ми (huja mi), хуй (huj) Catalan: cony (ca), carall (ca), putes (ca), merda (ca), collons (ca) Danish: fanden, helvede Dutch: de neuk Esperanto: diable (eo), damne (eo), feke Finnish: hitto (fi), vittu (fi) French: putain (fr) Georgian: ჩემი ფეხები (čemi pexebi), ჩემი ყლე (čemi q̇le) German: zum Teufel, zum Fick, zum Scheiß, verfickt nochmal Greek: στον πούτσο (ston poútso), μαλακία (el) (malakía), σκατά (el) (skatá) Italian: cazzo (it) Norwegian: Bokmål: i helvete, faen (no) Polish: do kurwy, do chuja, do pizdy Portuguese: caralho (pt), merda (pt), porra (pt), foda (pt) Romanian: pula mea, sloboz (ro), pizda mă-sii, morții mă-sii, (blasphemous) dumnezeii mă-sii, futere, căcat (ro), mă-sa Russian: хули (ru) (xuli), блять (ru) (bljatʹ), ебать (ru) (jebatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: курац, до курца, пичку материну, пизду материну, три пичке материне, јеботе Roman: kurac (sh), do kurca, pičku materinu, pizdu materinu, tri pičke materine, jebote Slovak: kurva, do piče Spanish: coño (es), carajo (es), putas (es), mierda (es), lèche, cojones (es) Swedish: i helvete (sv), fan (sv) Turkish: sikim (tr), sik (tr), bok (tr)

vulgar: intensifier forming part of a phrasal verb

Bulgarian: да го еба (da go eba) Catalan: d’una puta vegada, collons (ca) Danish: for fanden, for helvede French: putain (fr) German: verfickt nochmal Greek: γαμώτο (el) (gamóto) Norwegian: Bokmål: for helvete, for faen Polish: kurwa (pl), do chuja, do pizdy Portuguese: de uma puta vez, caralho (pt), porra (pt) Romanian: în pula mea, în sloboz, în pizda mă-sii, în morții mă-sii, (blasphemous) în dumnezeii mă-sii, în futere, în căcat, în mă-sa Russian: на́хуй (ru) (náxuj), блять (ru) (bljatʹ), в пизду (ru) (v pizdu), в жопу (ru) (v žopu), ебать (ru) (jebatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: у курац, до курца, у пичку материну, у пизду материну, у три пичке материне, јеботе Roman: u kurac, do kurca, u pičku materinu, u pizdu materinu, u tri pičke materine, jebote Spanish: de una puta vez, carajo (es), joder (es), coño (es) Swedish: för fan, för helvete Turkish: amına koyayım

Anagrams

• fucketh