Italian · The Basics
Merda!
MEHR-dah · /ˈmer.da/
Shit! / Damn it!
2/5 Bar-safe
coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances
Literally
"Shit"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
The scatological workhorse — milder than "cazzo" and safe to mutter almost anywhere. Doubles as "bad luck": actors and students say "in bocca al lupo" (in the wolf's mouth) and answer "crepi," but "merda!" is the theatre-world good-luck shout, same as the French "merde." Call a thing "una merda" and you mean it's garbage.
Heard in the wild
Che merda di giornata.
What a shit day.
Where it lands
Universal across Italy
Quick answers
- What does "Merda!" mean?
- In Italian, "Merda!" means "Shit! / Damn it!". Literally it's "Shit". The scatological workhorse — milder than "cazzo" and safe to mutter almost anywhere. Doubles as "bad luck": actors and students say "in bocca al lupo" (in the wolf's mouth) and answer "crepi," but "merda!" is the theatre-world good-luck shout, same as the French "merde." Call a thing "una merda" and you mean it's garbage.
- Is "Merda!" 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 "Merda!"?
- Say it "MEHR-dah" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈmer.da.
Related in Italian
Cazzo! KAHT-tso Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse. 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! Cavolo! KAH-vo-lo Darn! / Shoot! / The clean stand-in for cazzo. Madonna! mah-DON-nah Oh my god! / Jeez! Mannaggia! mahn-NAH-jah Damn it! / Curse it!
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!
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