Is "Kahretsin!" offensive?

It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.

How do you pronounce "Kahretsin!"?

Say it "kah-ret-SEEN" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: kahɾetˈsin.

Work in progress! Native speakers are still checking every phrase. Spot something off? Tell us.

cursing.in curse like a local

Turkish · Exclamations

Kahretsin!

kah-ret-SEEN · /kahɾetˈsin/

Damn it! / Dammit!

1/5 Grandma-safe

mild, playful; fine on daytime TV

Literally

"May (it) damn / curse (it)"

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

How to use it

The polite, deployable "damn it" — the one Turkish dubbing uses to render English cursing on TV, so it carries a faintly cinematic, translated flavor. Real people do say it, but it's milder than anything with a body part in it; think of it as the safe pressure-release valve. If you only learn one frustration word for mixed company, this is it.

Heard in the wild

Kahretsin, yine şifreyi unuttum.

Damn it, I forgot the password again.

Where it lands

Turkey-wide; slightly bookish/dubbed register

Quick answers

What does "Kahretsin!" mean?: In Turkish, "Kahretsin!" means "Damn it! / Dammit!". Literally it's "May (it) damn / curse (it)". The polite, deployable "damn it" — the one Turkish dubbing uses to render English cursing on TV, so it carries a faintly cinematic, translated flavor. Real people do say it, but it's milder than anything with a body part in it; think of it as the safe pressure-release valve. If you only learn one frustration word for mixed company, this is it.
Is "Kahretsin!" offensive?: It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
How do you pronounce "Kahretsin!"?: Say it "kah-ret-SEEN" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: kahɾetˈsin.

Related in Turkish

Ya YAH Come on / seriously / ugh — a softener-slash-intensifier tacked on for feeling Of ya! OFF YAH Ugh! / For crying out loud! Hassiktir! hah-sik-TEER Holy shit! / Oh fuck! Eyvah! AY-vah Oh no! / Uh-oh! Tüh! TEW Darn! / Shoot! / Dang it! Hay Allah! HY ah-LAH Oops / oh dear / for heaven's sake

The same idea, elsewhere

Via concepts like "Damn".

how to say "Damn" →

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