Log in or Sign up

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Vulgar Slang The female genital organs.
  2. n. Vulgar Slang Sexual intercourse with a woman.
  3. n. Offensive Used as a disparaging term for a woman.
  4. n. Used as a disparaging term for a person one dislikes or finds extremely disagreeable.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The female genitalia, especially the vulva.
  2. n. An extremely unpleasant or objectionable person (in US, especially a woman; in UK or Ireland, more usually a man).
  3. n. An objectionable object or item.
  4. n. An unpleasant or difficult experience or incident.
  5. n. A woman or women as a source of sex.
  6. n. When used with certain adjectives such as good or funny, cunt can be used to describe a person in a positive manner. This is mostly done between male friends.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. The female pudenda; specifically the vagina.
  2. n. A woman; -- usually used derogatorily and considered obscene.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. obscene terms for female genitals
  2. n. a person (usually but not necessarily a woman) who is thoroughly disliked

Etymologies

  1. Middle English cunte.

Examples

  • “While I realized I hold distinctly different views on the world from most of the people there I would also have to say that I am aghast that they'd use the word "slut" or that they would wonder why there is such a strong reaction to the term cunt or slut.”

    Bread n Roses poster: Bev Oda is a slut

  • “I want books with the word cunt as well as the word kike.”

    Simon & Schuster: TalkTalk

  • “Sure, all of the “educated”, “middle class” “Guardian” “readers” who pat themselves on the back because they ‘get’ Chris Morris, think that the word cunt is a non-issue and probably deal with the word in a ‘been there, done that’ detachedness.”

    C.U.Next Tuesday - :: gia’s blog ::

  • “A Flynt apologist could probably wiggle away from the sexism of the word cunt; harder to excuse was Flynt's preposterous suggestion that Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment was meritless, an empty gesture of political correctness.”

    Slate Articles

  • “In my (Highland) experience, then, 'cunt' is more likely to be used as a general obscenity - on hurting oneself, etc. - by women, or as a comment on particular behaviour as above.”

    On Profanity: 3

  • “Trying to picture a literally “pendulous” cunt is quite amusing.”

    Matthew Yglesias » Who’s “Ideological” in the Health Care Debate?

  • “How the fuck we PAY for the ugly cunt is beyond me.”

    Face Transplant Man: "I'm Still Bloody Ugly"

  • “A man who walked out on his injured wife and their kids for his billionaire mistress - whom he calls a cunt, publicly.”

    New McCain Ad Congratulates Obama

  • “So Jane Fonda says the word cunt on the Today Show.”

    Samara O'Shea: The "N" Word on Network Television

  • “Tom Harris MP who I called my cunt of the year - earlier this year over his comments about how people were moaning and we were all doing so well - has proven my point that he is a complete an utter cuntwaft of an MP with regards his reaction to being sent a copy of 1984.”

    Tom Harris MP - My cunt of the year.

Show 10 more examples...

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘cunt’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Prolagus http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomgauld/5753689867/in/photostream Feb 28, 2012

  • Ed_Jogg For a titillating, yet scholarly study of cunt (the word :-) ), check .....
    Hal Duncan's Notes from the Geek Show: Cunt blog
    Well, I was titillated...... in a very scholarly way, of course. :-)
    Feb 10, 2011

  • pawciopp it sounds the same-like-can't..... Nov 25, 2010

  • transcendancing "While one word maketh not a women-centered language, "cunt" is certainly mighty potent and versatile contribution. Not to mention how deliciously satisfying it is to totally snag a reviled word and elevate it to a status which all women should rightfully experience in this society." - Inga Muscio from 'Cunt: A Declaration of Independence' Mar 23, 2010

  • likeflannel "A friend of mine engaged in a play called the vagina monologues, found out that the word cunt according to William Shakespeare derive from getting intimately acquainted."

    oh my gosh, YES!
    I saw the vagina monologues this year on my birthday, my all-time favourite part.
    loved it. Jul 1, 2009

  • michaelchang A friend of mine engaged in a play called the vagina monologues, found out that the word cunt according to William Shakespeare derive from getting intimately acquainted. Jul 1, 2009

  • easysez when spoken out loud , leave the area May 4, 2009

  • plethora Ha! May 3, 2009

  • madmouth weren't we all.

    (except for Macduff) May 3, 2009

  • gangerh I was born in Kent. May 3, 2009

  • madmouth one of Chaucer's spelling variations for it was kent. May 2, 2009

  • glazomaniac The English language word that will continue to shock, I think, even when cunt has lost its power, is the despicable n-word in the mouth of a white American. Apr 12, 2009

  • garyth123 In 2008 BBC4 screened a film which told the story of Mrs Mary Whitehouse (a campaigner against 'filth' on TV etc). The film had a couple of good jokes that were meant to suggest that Mrs Whitehouse was obsessed (perhaps neurotically) with sex. One of these was that her original name for her organistaion was—clean up national TV. Mar 8, 2009

  • qroqqa For the record, not related to 'quaint': that was a pun by mediaeval writers. Nor, pace Catherine Blackledge quoted below, could any etymologist connect it with the Romance 'country'. The word is in fact of completely unknown etymology, its only known relation being Norse kunta.

    It cannot be related to Latin cunnus of same meaning, as in 'cunnilingus', since that violates Grimm's Law: Latin [k] would match Germanic [h], whereas Germanic [k] would match Latin [g]. If it was an early borrowing from Latin into Germanic, so that Grimm's Law didn't have to apply, where would the [t] come from?

    It is possible, as an idle speculation, that it's related to the Indo-European "woman" word (queen, Venus, gyne-) or to the "know" word (know, kin, kind, king, cunning), but not both. There is no evidence for any such connexion except resemblance, probably just chance resemblance. Mar 8, 2009

  • BrainyBabe C U next Tuesday -- the title of a recent book on "bad" language. Dec 29, 2008

  • BrainyBabe Graham Norton is a chat show host in Britain, charming, camp, outrageous, with a late night programme laced with sexuality, not mere innuendo. An American guest expressed surprise on air at what British presenters could get away with. "I even hear people say "fuck" and the editors don't bleep it. Is there any word you're not allowed to use?" Without missing a beat, Norton replied, "Cunt". Dec 29, 2008

  • BrainyBabe "Cun" is a word in a southern French dialect, possibly Occitan, which means "wedge", as in the ancient mechanical tool still in use today to split things. The wedge shape is triangular (and the downward facing equilateral triangle has been used for millenia as shorthand for the female genitalia, and by extension, some would say, the goddess -- see Marija Gimbutas and Old Europe) and the function of the wedge is to transform. A pretty good description of a cunt, no? Dec 29, 2008

  • rolig The Slovene equivalent of this word, pizda, is used on a daily basis, far more than the common word for the male organ, kurec. Everyone says "pizda", even sometimes on television. It serves the same purpose as the American "fuck" or "shit" in sentences like, "Oh fuck, I forgot my keys!" Even women say "pizda" without batting an eye. I was shocked when I first moved here because I kept translating the word in my head, but now I'm used to it, though I never say it myself. Jun 23, 2008

  • yarb And all their damn fool questions 'tell me Peter,
    what do you write about?' (cunts like you, mate)...

    - Peter Reading, Soirée, from The Prison Cell & Barrel Mystery, 1976 Jun 23, 2008

  • skipvia See also coynte. Mar 6, 2008

  • muamor Sweetest taboo? Maybe English speaking world just doesn't know how to use the word imaginatively, like for example the Italians use figa. Or The Spanish use coño. Not to mention The Finns and their favourite word, the v-word vittu.

    Other variations: cunte, counte, Middle English; kut, The Netherlands; kunta, Old Norse; queynthe Middle English; qwim, sixteenth century England; chuint, Ireland; kus, Arabic & Hebrew.

    Some etymologists think it derives from words, queen, country or cunning - cunnende. What it comes to the root, cu, it is said to signify 'quintessential physical femininity´.

    Catherine Blackledge: The story of V.

    Mar 6, 2008

  • kewpid Not a listener of the Savage Lovecast are you lalala? Nov 3, 2007

  • lalala I find the notion that the word 'cunt' is considered offensive bizarre. Cunts are warm, deep & delightful - you should only call someone a cunt if they have these characteristics. Nov 3, 2007

  • npydyuan Also related to coney or cunny. Sep 17, 2007

  • deliriumslibrarian Not only quaint, but also kind and kenning - the roots give new meaning to the branches. Jun 15, 2007

  • verbiwhore Definitely one of my favorite words. Even today, where words that were once considered taboo and deeply offensive are used, in many instances, in our day to day language, the word cunt has managed to retain its shock value, and can still illicit a very visceral reaction. Jun 13, 2007

  • stpeter Yet this shocking word is cognate with quaint. Odd, eh? Dec 9, 2006

  • jrsperry What a fantastic, descriptive word. I don't get to use it very often, but it is an absolute pleasure when I do. Dec 7, 2006

  • seanahan Good note Pathar. I can't think of a word in the English language which is more shocking, or offensive. Dec 4, 2006

  • pathar I like that this is one of the last few words in the language that can really shock people. Dec 4, 2006

‘cunt’ has been looked up 5985 times, loved by 11 people, added to 77 lists, commented on 30 times, and has a Scrabble score of 6.