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German · Exclamations & Outbursts

Heilige Scheiße!

HY-lig-uh SHY-suh · /ˈhaɪ.lɪ.ɡə ˈʃaɪ.sə/

Holy shit!

2/5 Bar-safe

coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances

Literally

"Holy shit"

Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.

How to use it

A direct calque of the English "holy shit," and worth knowing it's a relative newcomer — it rode in on dubbed films and now sounds natural to under-40s but slightly imported to their parents, who'd say "Ach du heiliger Strohsack!" (oh holy straw-sack) instead. Use it, but know it wears its Hollywood origins.

Heard in the wild

Heilige Scheiße, hast du das gesehen?

Holy shit, did you see that?

Where it lands

Germany — current among younger speakers

Quick answers

What does "Heilige Scheiße!" mean?
In German, "Heilige Scheiße!" means "Holy shit!". Literally it's "Holy shit". A direct calque of the English "holy shit," and worth knowing it's a relative newcomer — it rode in on dubbed films and now sounds natural to under-40s but slightly imported to their parents, who'd say "Ach du heiliger Strohsack!" (oh holy straw-sack) instead. Use it, but know it wears its Hollywood origins.
Is "Heilige Scheiße!" 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 "Heilige Scheiße!"?
Say it "HY-lig-uh SHY-suh" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈhaɪ.lɪ.ɡə ˈʃaɪ.sə.

Related in German

Quatsch! KVATCH Nonsense! / Rubbish! / No way! Ach du Scheiße! AKH doo SHY-suh Oh shit! / Oh crap! Was zum Teufel? VASS tsoom TOY-fel What the hell? / What the devil? Mein Gott! MINE GOT My God! / Oh my God! Autsch! OWTCH Ouch! / Ow! Scheiße! SHY-suh Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive

The same idea, elsewhere

Via concepts like "Unbelievable".

how to say "Unbelievable" →

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