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cursing.in curse like a local

Italian · Exclamations

Porca troia!

POR-kah TROY-ah · /ˈpor.ka ˈtrɔ.ja/

Fucking hell! / Goddammit!

3/5 Watch your audience

genuinely rude; friends only, never at work

Literally

"Pig sow/whore"

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

How to use it

Roughly interchangeable with "porca puttana" but a notch grittier — "troia" is both "sow" and a harsh word for a promiscuous woman, so mind that it's crude. A hard, guttural release valve, common in the center and south. Not a saint in sight, so it's cursing, not blasphemy.

Heard in the wild

Porca troia, ho perso il portafoglio!

Fucking hell, I lost my wallet!

Where it lands

Universal; frequent in center/south

Quick answers

What does "Porca troia!" mean?
In Italian, "Porca troia!" means "Fucking hell! / Goddammit!". Literally it's "Pig sow/whore". Roughly interchangeable with "porca puttana" but a notch grittier — "troia" is both "sow" and a harsh word for a promiscuous woman, so mind that it's crude. A hard, guttural release valve, common in the center and south. Not a saint in sight, so it's cursing, not blasphemy.
Is "Porca troia!" 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 "Porca troia!"?
Say it "POR-kah TROY-ah" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈpor.ka ˈtrɔ.ja.

Related in Italian

Cazzo! KAHT-tso Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse. 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! 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".

how to say "Damn" →

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