Italian · The Basics
Cazzo!
KAHT-tso · /ˈkat.tso/
Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
3/5 Watch your audience
genuinely rude; friends only, never at work
Literally
"Dick"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
If you learn one dirty word, learn this one. "Cazzo" is Italian's Swiss-army profanity: a standalone yelp when you stub your toe, an intensifier ("che cazzo vuoi?" — what the hell do you want?), and the root of a dozen compounds. It's genuinely rude but so common you'll hear it from teenagers and nonne alike; just not in a job interview. The clean stand-in is "cavolo" (cabbage).
Heard in the wild
Cazzo, ho perso il treno!
Fuck, I missed the train!
Where it lands
Universal across Italy
Quick answers
- What does "Cazzo!" mean?
- In Italian, "Cazzo!" means "Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.". Literally it's "Dick". If you learn one dirty word, learn this one. "Cazzo" is Italian's Swiss-army profanity: a standalone yelp when you stub your toe, an intensifier ("che cazzo vuoi?" — what the hell do you want?), and the root of a dozen compounds. It's genuinely rude but so common you'll hear it from teenagers and nonne alike; just not in a job interview. The clean stand-in is "cavolo" (cabbage).
- Is "Cazzo!" 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 "Cazzo!"?
- Say it "KAHT-tso" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈkat.tso.
Related in Italian
Merda! MEHR-dah Shit! / Damn it! Che palle! kay PAHL-lay What a pain in the ass! / So annoying! Porca miseria! POR-kah mee-ZEH-ryah Dammit! / For heaven's sake! Minchia! MEEN-kyah Holy shit! / Wow! / Damn! Che cazzo?! kay KAHT-tso What the fuck?! Cavolo! KAH-vo-lo Darn! / Shoot! / The clean stand-in for cazzo.
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- French Putain ! Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really
- German Scheiße! Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive
- Greek γαμώτο Damn it! / Dammit!
- 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!
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.