Reading
Guides
Evergreen guides to colourful language, built from real Swear Atlas entries — no invented rankings, no filler. Start with a theme, or a language.
Themes
One word, many meanings: the most versatile swears
Some words do everything — exclamation, insult, intensifier, punctuation. A look at swearing's Swiss army knives.
GuideLiteral vs actual meaning: when foreign swearing gets weird
Translate a swear word word-for-word and you often get something baffling. That gap is where the fun lives.
GuideWhat did I just hear? Foreign swears English speakers commonly mishear
The sound reaches your ears before the spelling does. Here's how some famous foreign swears land on an English ear.
By language
10 French swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of French expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Italian10 Italian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Italian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
English10 English swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of English expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Russian10 Russian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Russian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Polish10 Polish swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Polish expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
German10 German swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of German expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Spanish10 Spanish swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Spanish expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Portuguese10 Portuguese swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Portuguese expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Finnish10 Finnish swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Finnish expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Dutch10 Dutch swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Dutch expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Chinese10 Chinese swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Chinese expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Turkish10 Turkish swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Turkish expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Czech10 Czech swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Czech expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Japanese10 Japanese swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Japanese expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Hungarian10 Hungarian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Hungarian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Danish10 Danish swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Danish expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Hindi10 Hindi swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Hindi expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Swedish10 Swedish swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Swedish expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Korean10 Korean swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Korean expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Greek10 Greek swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Greek expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Norwegian10 Norwegian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Norwegian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Arabic10 Arabic swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Arabic expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Romanian10 Romanian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Romanian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Croatian10 Croatian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Croatian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.
Serbian10 Serbian swear words you'll actually hear
A traveller's shortlist of Serbian expletives, insults and exclamations — what they mean, and how strong they are.