German · The Compound Machine
Scheißwetter
SHYSE-vet-ter · /ˈʃaɪs.vɛ.tɐ/
Miserable, filthy weather
2/5 Bar-safe
coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances
Literally
"Shit-weather"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
The Scheiß- prefix at its most practical — clamp it onto whatever's ruining your day: Scheißwetter, Scheißjob, Scheißtag, Scheißauto. It's the German equivalent of sticking "bloody" or "damn" in front of a noun, and it's infinitely productive. Given the German sky, "Scheißwetter" gets a heavy workout from October to April.
Heard in the wild
Schon wieder Regen — was für ein Scheißwetter!
Rain again — what filthy weather!
Where it lands
Germany, Austria, Switzerland — universal
Quick answers
- What does "Scheißwetter" mean?
- In German, "Scheißwetter" means "Miserable, filthy weather". Literally it's "Shit-weather". The Scheiß- prefix at its most practical — clamp it onto whatever's ruining your day: Scheißwetter, Scheißjob, Scheißtag, Scheißauto. It's the German equivalent of sticking "bloody" or "damn" in front of a noun, and it's infinitely productive. Given the German sky, "Scheißwetter" gets a heavy workout from October to April.
- Is "Scheißwetter" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 2/5 (Bar-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances.
- How do you pronounce "Scheißwetter"?
- Say it "SHYSE-vet-ter" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈʃaɪs.vɛ.tɐ.
Related in German
Mist! MIST Crap! / Rats! — the family-friendly 'damn' Verdammt nochmal! fair-DAMT NOCH-mahl God damn it! / For crying out loud! Verdammte Scheiße! fair-DAM-tuh SHY-suh God-damn shit! / Bloody hell! Herrgott nochmal! HAIR-got NOCH-mahl For God's sake! / Good Lord! Oh Mann! OH MAHN Oh man! / Ugh, come on! So ein Mist! ZOH ine MIST What a load of crap! / Damn it all!
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- French Putain ! Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really
- 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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