French · Québec Sacres (Cursing by the Altar)
Crisse !
KRISS · /kʁɪs/
Christ! / F***! (Québécois sacre)
3/5 Watch your audience
genuinely rude; friends only, never at work
Literally
"Christ"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
"Christ" filed down to a hard single syllable — another pillar sacre, and another verb: "crisser son camp" = to clear off, "je m'en crisse" = I couldn't care less. Rated 3 for Québec. Softened as "crime" or "cristie." Chains happily with the others into the maximal Québec curse.
Heard in the wild
Crisse, arrête de niaiser !
Christ, quit messing around!
Where it lands
Québec (Canada) — liturgical curse
Quick answers
- What does "Crisse !" mean?
- In French, "Crisse !" means "Christ! / F***! (Québécois sacre)". Literally it's "Christ". "Christ" filed down to a hard single syllable — another pillar sacre, and another verb: "crisser son camp" = to clear off, "je m'en crisse" = I couldn't care less. Rated 3 for Québec. Softened as "crime" or "cristie." Chains happily with the others into the maximal Québec curse.
- Is "Crisse !" offensive?
- It's genuinely rude — a 3/5 (Watch your audience) on the Punch-o-Meter. Fine among friends, never at work or with people you've just met.
- How do you pronounce "Crisse !"?
- Say it "KRISS" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: kʁɪs.
Related in French
Putain ! poo-TAN Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really Merde ! MEHRD Shit! / Damn! — and, bizarrely, 'good luck' Bordel ! bor-DEL What a mess! / Chaos! — also 'what the hell' as an intensifier Zut ! ZOOT Darn! / Shoot! Crotte ! KROT Poop! / Darn! — the polite-company dodge for 'merde' Putain de bordel de merde ! poo-TAN duh bor-DEL duh MEHRD For f***'s holy sake! — the full three-word combo
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- German Scheiße! Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive
- Greek γαμώτο Damn it! / Dammit!
- Italian Cazzo! Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
- Japanese くそ Damn! / Crap! / Shit!
- Korean 씨발 Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse.
- Polish kurwa Fuck / damn / shit — the load-bearing word of Polish, and its most common comma.
- Portuguese Porra! Damn! / Fuck! — but mostly used as pure punctuation
- Russian Блин! Damn! / Darn! / Shoot!
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