Japanese · Exclamations
畜生
chikushō
chee-koo-SHOH · /tɕiku̥ɕoː/
Dammit! / God damn it!
2/5 Bar-safe
coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances
Literally
"beast / brute (Buddhist 'animal realm')"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
A meatier "dammit" than kuso, shouted at fate rather than at a person — you lost, you failed, the universe wronged you. Roots in the Buddhist realm of beasts, so it carries a faint whiff of cursing your own base misfortune. Clipped "chikushō-" or the gruff "chikushо̄me." Very common in sports and war films.
Heard in the wild
畜生、あと一点だったのに。
Dammit — we were one point away.
Where it lands
Nationwide
Quick answers
- What does "畜生" mean?
- In Japanese, "畜生" means "Dammit! / God damn it!". Literally it's "beast / brute (Buddhist 'animal realm')". A meatier "dammit" than kuso, shouted at fate rather than at a person — you lost, you failed, the universe wronged you. Roots in the Buddhist realm of beasts, so it carries a faint whiff of cursing your own base misfortune. Clipped "chikushō-" or the gruff "chikushо̄me." Very common in sports and war films.
- Is "畜生" 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 "畜生"?
- Say it "chee-koo-SHOH" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: tɕiku̥ɕoː.
Related in Japanese
くそ kuso KOO-so Damn! / Crap! / Shit! うるさい urusai oo-roo-SIGH Shut up / you're too loud / quit nagging うざい uzai oo-ZYE Annoying / a pain in the ass 消えろ kiero kee-EH-ro Get lost / get out of my sight クソ食らえ kuso kurae KOO-so koo-RAH-eh Eat shit / to hell with it 何だよ nanda yo NAHN-dah yo What the hell / what's your problem
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!
- Italian Cazzo! Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
- 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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