Four-letter word


The phrase four-letter word refers to a set of English-language words written with four letters which are considered profane, including common popular or slang terms for excretory functions, sexual activity and genitalia, terms relating to Hell or damnation when used outside of religious contexts or slurs. The "four-letter" claim refers to the fact that many English "swear words" are incidentally four-character monosyllables. This description came into use during the first half of the twentieth century.

History

Common four-letter words that are widely considered vulgar or offensive to a notable degree include: cunt, fuck, ', ', shit, twat and '. Piss in particular, however, may be used in non-excretory contexts that are often not considered particularly offensive, and the word also occurs several times with its excretory meaning in the King James Bible. Several of these have been declared legally indecent under the United States Federal Communications Commission TV and radio open-airwave broadcasting regulations.
A number of additional words of this length are upsetting to some, for religious or personal sensitivity reasons, such as: ', ', ', ', ', ', and '. Racist, ableist, and slurs pertaining to an individual's sexual orientation may also qualify, such as ', ', ', ', ', ' and '.
Several "four-letter words" have multiple meanings, and usually only offend when used in their vulgar senses, for example:
',
',
',
',
',
' and
'.
A borderline category includes words that are euphemistic evasions of "stronger" words, as well as those that happen to be short and have both an expletive sound to some listeners as well as a sexual or excretory meaning :
',
',
',
',
',
',
',
' and
', as several examples.
Finally, certain four-lettered terms with limited usage can be considered offensive by some, within the regional dialect in which they are used, such as
' and
.
Occasionally the phrase "four-letter word" is humorously used to describe common words composed of four letters. Typical examples include the word work, implying that work can be unpleasant, or the game of golf, jokingly referred to as a four-letter word when a player's pastime becomes an exercise in frustration. Charlotte Observer journalist Doug Robarchek noted in 1993 how many politicians have names with four letters, "Ever notice how many U.S. politicians have names that are also four-letter words? Ford, Dole, Duke, Bush, Gore... and how many make us think of four-letter words?"

Similar euphemisms in other languages