Spanish · Exclamations (You Dropped Your Phone)
¡Mierda!
MYEHR-dah · /ˈmjeɾ.ða/
Shit! / crap
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
Plain "shit," and gloriously universal — works identically in every Spanish-speaking country. "Una mierda" = a piece of garbage (a bad movie, a bad phone); "irse a la mierda" = to fall apart / go to hell. In Spain "¡mierda!" also means "good luck!" in theater, same as English "break a leg."
Heard in the wild
¡Mierda, pisé un chicle!
Shit, I stepped in gum!
Where it lands
Pan-Hispanic (universal)
Quick answers
- What does "¡Mierda!" mean?
- In Spanish, "¡Mierda!" means "Shit! / crap". Literally it's "Shit". Plain "shit," and gloriously universal — works identically in every Spanish-speaking country. "Una mierda" = a piece of garbage (a bad movie, a bad phone); "irse a la mierda" = to fall apart / go to hell. In Spain "¡mierda!" also means "good luck!" in theater, same as English "break a leg."
- Is "¡Mierda!" 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 "¡Mierda!"?
- Say it "MYEHR-dah" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈmjeɾ.ða.
Related in Spanish
¡Chin! CHEEN Darn! / Shoot! ¡Carajo! kah-RAH-hoh Damn it! / hell ¡Puta madre! POO-tah MAH-dreh Goddammit! / fucking hell! ¡Me lleva la chingada! meh YEH-bah lah cheen-GAH-dah I'm so screwed! / For fuck's sake! ¡Joder! hoh-DEHR Fuck! / damn it! (the Spain default) ¡Chingada madre! cheen-GAH-dah MAH-dreh Goddammit! / motherf—!
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.
- 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
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