Polish · The Kurwa Machine
kurwa mać
KOOR-vah MAHCH · /ˈkur.va ˈmat͡ɕ/
Fucking hell / goddammit — the emphatic, two-barrel kurwa.
genuinely rude; friends only, never at work
Literally
"whore mother"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
Kurwa with the archaic word for mother bolted on — a fossil of the old curse "kurwa twoja mać" (your mother's a whore), now aimed at nobody. It's the two-syllable sigh become a four-syllable bellow: reserved for the bigger disasters, the hammer on the thumb, the deleted file. Same rules as the comma-kurwa — coarse but unaimed, watch-your-audience 3 — just louder. The full historical three-word version still exists and is nastier; the clipped form is pure self-directed steam.
Heard in the wild
Kurwa mać, cały dzień roboty stracony.
Fucking hell, a whole day's work gone.
Where it lands
Poland (universal)
Quick answers
- What does "kurwa mać" mean?
- In Polish, "kurwa mać" means "Fucking hell / goddammit — the emphatic, two-barrel kurwa.". Literally it's "whore mother". Kurwa with the archaic word for mother bolted on — a fossil of the old curse "kurwa twoja mać" (your mother's a whore), now aimed at nobody. It's the two-syllable sigh become a four-syllable bellow: reserved for the bigger disasters, the hammer on the thumb, the deleted file. Same rules as the comma-kurwa — coarse but unaimed, watch-your-audience 3 — just louder. The full historical three-word version still exists and is nastier; the clipped form is pure self-directed steam.
- Is "kurwa mać" 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 "kurwa mać"?
- Say it "KOOR-vah MAHCH" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈkur.va ˈmat͡ɕ.
Related in Polish
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.
- Japanese くそ Damn! / Crap! / Shit!
- Korean 씨발 Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse.
- 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.