"Cunt" (/kʌnt/ ⓘ) is avulgar word for thevulva in its primary sense, and it is used in a variety of ways, including as aterm of disparagement. "Cunt" is often used as a disparaging andobscene term for awoman in the United States, an unpleasant or objectionable person (regardless of gender) in the United Kingdom and Ireland, or a contemptible man in Australia and New Zealand.[1][2][3][4] In Australia and New Zealand, it can also be a neutral or positive term when used with a positive qualifier (e.g., "He's a good cunt").[5][6] The term has various derivative senses, including adjective and verb uses.
The earliest known use of the word, according to theOxford English Dictionary, was as part of aplacename: an Oxford street calledGropecunt Lane,c. 1230, now by the name of Grove Passage or Magpie Lane. Use of the word as a term of abuse is relatively recent, dating from the late nineteenth century.[7] The word was not consideredvulgar in theMiddle Ages, but became so during the seventeenth century,[8] and it was omitted from dictionaries from the late eighteenth century until the 1960s.[9]
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The etymology ofcunt is a matter of debate,[10] but most sources consider the word to have derived from aGermanic word (Proto-Germanic*kuntō,stem*kuntōn-), which appeared askunta inOld Norse. Scholars are uncertain of the origin of the Proto-Germanic form itself.[11] There arecognates in most Germanic languages, most of which also have the same meaning as the English cunt, such as the Swedish,Faroese andNynorskkunta;West Frisian andMiddle Low Germankunte; another Middle Low Germankutte;Middle High Germankotze (meaning "prostitute"); modern Germankott;Middle Dutchconte; modern Dutch wordskut (same meaning) andkont ("butt", "arse"); and perhapsOld Englishcot.
Theetymology of the Proto-Germanic term is disputed. It may have arisen byGrimm's law operating on theProto-Indo-Europeanroot*gen/gon "create, become" seen ingonads,genital,gamete,genetics,gene, or the Proto-Indo-European root*gʷneh₂/guneh₂ "woman" (Greek:gunê, seen ingynaecology). Similarly, its use in England likely evolved from theLatin wordcunnus ("vulva"), or one of its derivatives Frenchcon, Spanishcoño, and Portuguesecona.[12] Other Latin words related tocunnus arecuneus ("wedge") and its derivativecunēre ("to fasten with a wedge", (figurative) "to squeeze in"), leading to English words such ascuneiform ("wedge-shaped"). InMiddle English,cunt appeared with many spellings, such ascoynte,cunte andqueynte, which did not always reflect the actualpronunciation of the word.
The word, in its modern meaning, is attested in Middle English.Proverbs of Hendyng, amanuscript from some time before 1325, includes the advice:[13]
Ȝeue þi cunte to cunnig and craue affetir wedding.
(Give your cunt wisely and make [your] demands after the wedding.)
The wordcunt is generally regarded inEnglish-speaking countries asprofanity and unsuitable for normal public discourse. It has been described as "the most heavily tabooed word of all English words",[14][15] although John Ayto, editor of theOxford Dictionary of Slang, says "nigger" is more taboo.[16]
Some Americanfeminists of the 1970s sought to eliminate disparaging terms for women, including "bitch" and "cunt".[17] In thecontext of pornography,Catharine MacKinnon argued that use of the word acts to reinforce adehumanisation of women by reducing them to mere body parts;[18] and in 1979Andrea Dworkin described the word as reducing women to "the one essential – 'cunt: our essence ... our offence'".[18]
Despite criticisms, there is a movement among feminists that seeks toreclaimcunt not only as acceptable, but as anhonorific, in much the same way thatqueer has beenreappropriated byLGBT people andnigger has been by someAfrican-Americans.[19] Proponents include artistTee Corinne inThe Cunt Coloring Book (1975);Eve Ensler in "Reclaiming Cunt" fromThe Vagina Monologues (1996); andInga Muscio in her book,Cunt: A Declaration of Independence (1998).[20]
Germaine Greer, the feminist writer and professor of English who once published a magazine article entitled "Lady, Love Your Cunt" (anthologised in 1986),[21] discussed the origins, usage and power of the word in the BBC seriesBalderdash and Piffle, explaining how her views had developed over time. In the 1970s she had "championed" the use of the word for the female genitalia, thinking it "shouldn't be abusive"; she rejected the "proper" wordvagina, a Latin name meaning "sword-sheath" originally applied by male anatomists to all muscle coverings (seesynovial sheath) – not just because it refers only to the internal canal but also because of the implication that the female body is "simply a receptacle for a weapon".[22] But in 2006, referring to its use as a term of abuse, she said that, though used in some quarters as a term of affection, it had become "the most offensive insult one man could throw at another"[23] and suggested that the word was "sacred", and "a word of immense power, to be used sparingly".[24] Greer said in 2006 that"'cunt' is one of the few remaining words in the English language with a genuine power to shock."[24]
Cunt has been attested in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century. WhileFrancis Grose's 1785A Classical Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue listed the word as "C**T: a nasty name for a nasty thing",[25] it did not appear in any major English dictionary from 1795 to 1961, when it was included inWebster's Third New International Dictionary with the comment "usu. considered obscene". Its first appearance in theOxford English Dictionary was in 1972, which cites the word as having been in use from 1230 in what was supposedly a London street name of "Gropecunte Lane". It was, however, also used before 1230, having been brought over by theAnglo-Saxons, originally not anobscenity but rather an ordinary name for the vulva or vagina.Gropecunt Lane was originally a street of prostitution, ared light district. It was normal in theMiddle Ages for streets to be named after the goods available for sale therein, hence the prevalence in cities having a medieval history of names such as "Silver Street" and "Fish Street". In some locations, the former name has beenbowdlerised, as in the City of York, to the more acceptable "Grape Lane".[26]
The somewhat similar word 'queynte' appears several times inChaucer'sCanterbury Tales (c. 1390), inbawdy contexts, but since it is used openly, does not appear to have been considered obscene at that time.[27] A notable use is from the "Miller's Tale": "Pryvely he caught her by the queynte." TheWife of Bath also uses this term, "For certeyn, olde dotard, by your leave/You shall have queynte right enough at eve .... What aileth you to grouche thus and groan?/Is it for ye would have my queynte alone?" In modernised versions of these passages the word "queynte" is usually translated simply as "cunt".[28][29] However, in Chaucer's usage there seems to be an overlap between the words "cunt" and "quaint" (possibly derived from theLatin for "known"). "Quaint" was probably pronounced in Middle English in much the same way as "cunt". It is sometimes unclear whether the two words were thought of as distinct from one another. Elsewhere in Chaucer's work the wordqueynte seems to be used with meaning comparable to the modern "quaint" (curious or old-fashioned, but nevertheless appealing).[30] This ambiguity was still being exploited by the 17th century;Andrew Marvell's... then worms shall try / That long preserved virginity, / And your quaint honour turn to dust, / And into ashes all my lust inTo His Coy Mistress depends on a pun on these two senses of "quaint".[31]
ByShakespeare's day, the word seems to have become obscene. Although Shakespeare does not use the word explicitly (or withderogatory meaning) in his plays, he still useswordplay to sneak it in obliquely. In Act III, Scene 2, ofHamlet, as the castle's residents are settling in to watch theplay-within-the-play, Hamlet asks his girlfriendOphelia, "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" Ophelia replies, "No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meantcountry matters?" Then, to drive home the point that theaccent is definitely on the firstsyllable ofcountry, Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs."[32] InTwelfth Night (Act II, Scene V) the puritanical Malvolio believes he recognises his employer's handwriting in an anonymous letter, commenting "There be her very Cs, her Us, and her Ts: and thus makes she her great Ps", unwittingly punning on "cunt" and "piss",[33] and while it has also been argued that the slang term "cut" is intended,[34] Pauline Kiernan writes that Shakespeare ridicules "prissy puritanical party-poopers" by having "a Puritan spell out the word 'cunt' on a public stage".[35] A related scene occurs inHenry V: when Katherine is learning English, she is appalled at thegros, et impudique words "foot" and "gown", which her teacher has mispronounced ascoun. It is usually argued that Shakespeare intends to suggest that she has misheard "foot" asfoutre (French, "fuck") and "coun" ascon (French "cunt", also used to mean "idiot").[36]
Similarly,John Donne alludes to the obscene meaning of the word without being explicit in his poemThe Good-Morrow, referring to sucking on "country pleasures". The 1675Restoration comedyThe Country Wife also features such word play, even in its title.[37]
By the 17th century, a softer form of the word, "cunny", came into use. A well-known use of this derivation can be found in the 25 October 1668 entry of the diary ofSamuel Pepys. He was discovered having an affair with Deborah Willet: he wrote that his wife "coming up suddenly, did find me embracing the girl con [with] my hand sub [under] su [her] coats; and endeed I was with my main [hand] in her cunny. I was at a wonderful loss upon it and the girl also ...."[38]
Cunny was probably derived from apun onconey, meaning "rabbit", rather aspussy is connected to the same term for a cat. (Philip Massinger (1583–1640): "A pox upon your Christiancockatrices! They cry, like poulterers' wives, 'No money, no coney.'")[39] Because of this slang use as a synonym for a taboo term, the word "coney", when it was used in its original sense to refer to rabbits, came to be pronounced as/ˈkoʊni/ (rhymes with "phoney"), instead of the original/ˈkʌni/ (rhymes with "honey"). Eventually, the taboo association led to the word "coney" becoming deprecated entirely and replaced by the word "rabbit".[39][40][41][42]
Robert Burns (1759–1796) used the word in hisMerry Muses of Caledonia, a collection of bawdy verses which he kept to himself and were not publicly available until the mid-1960s.[43] In "Yon, Yon, Yon, Lassie", this couplet appears: "For ilka birss upon her cunt, Was worth a ryal ransom"[44] ("For every hair upon her cunt was worth a royal ransom"[45]).
Merriam-Webster states it is a "usually disparaging and obscene" term for a woman,[2] and that it is an "offensive way to refer to a woman" in the United States.[3] In Americanslang, the term can also be used to refer to "a fellow male homosexual one dislikes".[46] Australian scholar Emma Alice Jane describes how the term as used on modern social media is an example of what she calls "gendered vitriol", and an example ofmisogynistic e-bile.[47] As a broader derogatory term, it is comparable toprick and means "a fool, a dolt, an unpleasant person – of either sex".[48][49] This sense is common in New Zealand, British, and Australian English, where it is usually applied to men[50] or as referringspecifically to "a despicable, contemptible or foolish"man.[51]
During the 1971Oz trial for obscenity, prosecutingcounsel asked writerGeorge Melly, "Would you call your 10-year-old daughter a cunt?" Melly replied, "No, because I don't think she is."[52]
In the 1975 filmOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the central characterMcMurphy, when pressed to explain exactly why he does not like the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, says, "Well, I don't want to break up the meeting or nothing, but she's something of a cunt, ain't she, Doc?"[53]
In informal British, Irish, New Zealand, and Australian English, and occasionally but to a lesser extent in Canadian English, it can be used with no negative connotations to refer to a (usually male) person.[54] In this sense, it may be modified by a positive qualifier (funny, clever, etc.).[55][56][5] For example, "This is my mate Brian. He's a good cunt."[6][57] InWelsh,cont (the Welsh equivalent) is sometimes used as a term of endearment, such as the phraseiawn cont (lit. 'okay cunt') inCaernarfon.[58]
It can also be used to refer to something very difficult or unpleasant (as in "a cunt of a job").[59]
In theSurvey of English Dialects the word was recorded in some areas as meaning "the vulva of a cow". This was pronounced as [kʌnt] inDevon, and [kʊnt] in theIsle of Man,Gloucestershire andNorthumberland. Possibly related was the wordcunny [kʌni], with the same meaning, inWiltshire.[60]
The word "cunty" is also known, although used rarely: a line fromHanif Kureishi'sMy Beautiful Laundrette is the definition of England by aPakistani immigrant as "eating hot buttered toast with cunty fingers", suggestive of hypocrisy and a hidden sordidness or immorality behind the country's quaint façade. This term is attributed to British novelistHenry Green.[61] In the United States, "cunty" is sometimes used incross-dressing dragball culture for adrag queen that "projects feminine beauty"[62] and was the title of a hit song byAviance.[63] A visitor to a New York drag show tells of the emcee praising a queen with "cunty, cunty, cunty" as she walks past.[64]
RapperAzealia Banks is known for her frequent usage of the word,[65] and her fans are known as the Kunt Brigade.[66] She's said in one interview:[67]
"To be cunty is to be feminine and to be, like, aware of yourself. Nobody's fucking with that inner strength and delicateness. The cunts, the gay men, adore that. My friends would say, "Oh you need to cunt it up! You're being toobanjee."
In the 2020s, the phrase "serving cunt" (or to "serve cunt") became popular as a term for acting in a powerfully and unapologetically feminine manner.[68]
Frequency of use varies widely. According to research in 2013 and 2014 byAston University and theUniversity of South Carolina, based on a corpus of nearly 9 billion words in geotaggedtweets, the word was most frequently used in the United States inNew England and was least frequently used in the south-eastern states.[69][70] In Maine, it was the most frequently used "cuss word" after "asshole".[71]
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James Joyce was one of the first major 20th-century novelists to put the word "cunt" into print. In the context of one of the central characters inUlysses (1922),Leopold Bloom, Joyce refers to theDead Sea and to
... the oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. Now it could bear no more. Dead: an old woman's: the grey sunken cunt of the world.[72]
Joyce uses the word figuratively rather than literally; but while Joyce used the word only once inUlysses, with four other wordplays ('cunty') on it,D. H. Lawrence later used the word ten times inLady Chatterley's Lover (1928), in a more direct sense.[73] Mellors, the gamekeeper and eponymous lover, tries delicately to explain the definition of the word to Lady Constance Chatterley: "If your sister there comes ter me for a bit o' cunt an' tenderness, she knows what she's after." The novel was the subject ofan unsuccessful UK prosecution in 1961 against its publishers,Penguin Books, on grounds of obscenity.[74]
Samuel Beckett was an associate of Joyce, and in hisMalone Dies (1956), he writes: "His young wife had abandoned all hope of bringing him to heel, by means of her cunt, thattrump card of young wives."[75] In 1998,Inga Muscio publishedCunt: A Declaration of Independence. InIan McEwan's novelAtonement (2001), set in 1935, the word is used in the draft of alove letter mistakenly sent instead of a revised version and, although not spoken, is an important plot pivot.[76]
Irvine Welsh uses the word widely in his novels, such asTrainspotting, generally as a generic placeholder for a man, and not always negatively, e.g. "Ah wis the cunt wi the fuckin pool cue in ma hand, n the plukey cunt could huv the fat end ay it in his pus if he wanted, like."[77][56]
The word is occasionally used in the titles of works of art, such as Peter Renosa's portrait of the pop singerMadonna,I am the Cunt of Western Civilization, from a 1990 quote by the singer.[78] One of the first works ofGilbert & George was a self-portrait in 1969[79] entitled "Gilbert the Shit and George the Cunt".[80] The London performance art group theNeo Naturists had a song and an act called "Cunt Power", a name which potterGrayson Perry borrowed for one of his early works: "An unglazed piece of modest dimensions, made from terracotta like clay – labia carefully formed with once wet material, about its midriff".[81] Australian artist Greg Taylor's display of scores of white porcelain vulvas, "CUNTS and other conversations" (2009), was deemed controversial for both its title and content, withAustralia Post warning the artist that the publicity postcards were illegal.[82]
Theatre censorship was effectivelyabolished in the UK in 1968; prior to that, all theatrical productions had to be vetted byLord Chamberlain's Office. English stand-up comedianRoy "Chubby" Brown claims that he was the first person to say the word on stage in the United Kingdom.[83]
Broadcast media is regulated for content, and media providers such as theBBC have guidelines which specify how "cunt" and similar words should be treated.[84] In a survey of 2000 commissioned by the BritishBroadcasting Standards Commission,Independent Television Commission, BBC andAdvertising Standards Authority, "cunt" was regarded as the most offensive word which could be heard, above "motherfucker" and "fuck".[85] Nevertheless, there have been occasions when, particularly in a live broadcast, the word has been aired outside editorial control:
The first scripted uses of the word on British television occurred in 1979, in theITV dramaNo Mama No.[33][86] InJerry Springer – The Opera (BBC, 2005), the suggestion that the Christ character might be gay was found more controversial than the chant describing the Devil as "cunting, cunting, cunting, cunting cunt".[90]
In July 2007BBC Three broadcast an hour-long documentary, entitledThe 'C' Word, about the origins, use and evolution of the word from the early 1900s to the present day. Presented by British comedianWill Smith, viewers were taken to a street inOxford once calledGropecunt Lane and presented with examples of the acceptability of "cunt" as a word.[91] (Note that "the C-word" is also a long-standing euphemism for cancer;Lisa Lynch's book led to a BBC1 drama, both with that title.[92])
TheAttitudes to potentially offensive language and gestures on TV and radio report byOfcom, based on research conducted byIpsos MORI, categorised the usage of the word 'cunt' as a highly unacceptable pre-watershed, but generally acceptable post-watershed, along with 'fuck' and 'motherfucker'. Discriminatory words were generally considered as more offensive than the most offensive non-discriminatory words such as 'cunt' by the UK public, with discriminatory words being more regulated as a result.[93]
The first scripted use on US television was on theLarry Sanders Show in 1992, and a notable use occurred inSex and the City.[33] In the US, an episode of theNBC TV show30 Rock, titled "The C Word", centered around a subordinate calling protagonistLiz Lemon (Tina Fey) a "cunt" and her subsequent efforts to regain her staff's favour.[94] Characters in the popular TV seriesThe Sopranos often used the term.[95]Jane Fonda uttered the word on a live airing of theToday Show, a network broadcast-TV news program, in 2008 when being interviewed by co-hostMeredith Vieira aboutThe Vagina Monologues.[96] Coincidentally, nearly two years later in 2010, also on theToday Show, Vieira interviewed a thirteen-year-old girl said the word twice to describe the contents oftext messages she was privy to that were central to a well publicised and violent assault. Meredith gently cautioned the girl to choose her words more carefully. As this was a live broadcast on the East Coast, the slurs already were already broadcast, but the producers removed the audio for the Central, Mountain, and Pacific feeds as well as online. Like the Fonda incident, Vieira issued an apology later in the show.[97] Media Critic Thomas Francis commented on what he perceived to be hypocrisy in the media industry:
Isn't it interesting how the national media licks its chops over this story, delighting in every gory detail, only to caution a 13-year-old girl to be "careful about our language"?
Why should she be careful, Meredith? Because there are 13-year-old girls in the audience? There's so much violence and vulgarity in modern American culture, words likecunt are like so many deck chairs on theTitanic.[98]
In 2018, Canadian comedianSamantha Bee had to apologise after callingIvanka Trump, aWhite House official and the daughter of US PresidentDonald Trump, a "feckless cunt".[99]
On 6 December 2010 on theBBC Radio 4Today programme, presenterJames Naughtie referred to the British Culture SecretaryJeremy Hunt as "Jeremy Cunt"; he later apologised for what the BBC called the inadvertent use of "an offensive four-letter word".[100] In the programme following, about an hour later,Andrew Marr referred to the incident duringStart the Week where it was said that "we won't repeat the mistake" whereupon Marr slipped up in the same way as Naughtie had.[101]
The word's first appearance was in graffiti on a wall in the 1969 filmBronco Bullfrog.[102] The first spoken use of the word in mainstream cinema occurs inCarnal Knowledge (1971), in which Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) asks, "Is this an ultimatum? Answer me, you ball-busting, castrating, son of a cunt bitch! Is this an ultimatum or not?" In the same year, the word was used in the filmWomen in Revolt, in whichHolly Woodlawn shouts "I love cunt" whilst avoiding a violent boyfriend.[103] Nicholson later used it again, inOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).[104] Two early films byMartin Scorsese,Mean Streets (1973) andTaxi Driver (1976), use the word in the context of thevirgin-whore dichotomy, with characters using it after they were rejected (inMean Streets) or after they have slept with the woman (inTaxi Driver).[105]
In notable instances, the word has been edited out.Saturday Night Fever (1977) was released in two versions, "R" (Restricted) and "PG" (Parental Guidance), the latter omitting or replacing dialogue such as Tony Manero (John Travolta)'s comment to Annette (Donna Pescow), "It's a decision a girl's gotta make early in life, if she's gonna be a nice girl or a cunt".[33] This differential persists, and inThe Silence of the Lambs (1991),Agent Starling (Jodie Foster) meetsDr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) for the first time and passes the cell of "Multiple Miggs", who says to Starling: "I can smell your cunt." In versions of the film edited for television the word is dubbed with the wordscent.[106] The 2010 filmKick-Ass caused a controversy when the word was used byHit-Girl because the actress playing the part,Chloë Grace Moretz, was 11 years old at the time of filming.[107][108]
In Britain, use of the word "cunt" may result in an "18" rating from theBritish Board of Film Classification (BBFC), and this happened toKen Loach's filmSweet Sixteen, because of an estimated twenty uses of "cunt".[109] Still, the BBFC's guidelines at "15" state that "very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification".[110] Also directed by Loach,My Name is Joe was given a 15 certificate despite more than one instance of the word.[111] The 2010Ian Dury biopicSex & Drugs & Rock & Roll was given a "15" rating despite containing seven uses of the word.[112] The BBFC have also allowed it at the "12" level, in the case of well known works such as Hamlet.[113]
In theirDerek and Clive dialogues,Peter Cook andDudley Moore, particularly Cook, used the word in the 1976 sketch "This Bloke Came Up To Me", with "cunt" used 35 times.[114] The word is also used extensively by British comedianRoy 'Chubby' Brown, which ensures that hisstand-up act has never been fully shown on UK television.[83]
Australian stand-up comedianRodney Rude frequently refers to his audiences as "cunts" and makes frequent use of the word in his acts, which got him arrested in Queensland and Western Australia for breaching obscenity laws of those states in the mid-1980s. Australian comedic singerKevin Bloody Wilson makes extensive use of the word, most notably in the songsCaring Understanding Nineties Type andYou Can't Say "Cunt" in Canada.[115]
The word appears in American comicGeorge Carlin's 1972 standup routine on the list of theseven dirty words that could not, at that time, be said on American broadcast television, a routine that led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision.[116] While some of the original seven are now heard on US broadcast television from time to time, "cunt" remains generally taboo except on premium paid subscription cable channels like HBO or Showtime. ComedianLouis C.K. uses the term frequently in his stage act as well as on his television showLouie onFX network, which bleeps it out.
In 2018, Canadian comedianSamantha Bee had to apologise after callingIvanka Trump a cunt on American late night TV showFull Frontal with Samantha Bee.[99]
The 1977Ian Dury and The Blockheads album,New Boots and Panties, used the word in the opening line of the track "Plaistow Patricia", thus: "Arseholes, bastards, fucking cunts and pricks",[117] particularly notable as there is no musical lead-in to the lyrics.[118][119]
In 1979, during a concert at New York'sBottom Line,Carlene Carter introduced a song about mate-swapping called "Swap-Meat Rag" by stating, "If this song doesn't put the cunt back in country, nothing will."[120][unreliable source?] However use of the word in lyrics is not recorded before theSid Vicious's 1978 version of "My Way", which marked the first known use of the word in a UK top 10 hit, as a line was changed to "You cunt/I'm not a queer".[121] The following year, "cunt" was used more explicitly in the song "Why D'Ya Do It?" fromMarianne Faithfull's albumBroken English:
Why'd ya do it, she screamed, after all we've said,
Every time I see your dick I see her cunt in my bed.[122]
TheHappy Mondays song, "Kuff Dam" (i.e. "Mad fuck" in reverse), from their 1987 debut album,Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out), includes the lyrics "You see that Jesus is a cunt / And never helped you with a thing that you do, or you don't". Biblical scholar James Crossley, writing in the academic journal,Biblical Interpretation, analyses the Happy Mondays' reference to "Jesus is a cunt" as a description of the "useless assistance" of a now "inadequate Jesus".[123] A phrase from the same lyric, "Jesus is a cunt" was included on the notoriousCradle of Filth T-shirt which depicted amasturbating nun on the front and the slogan "Jesus is a cunt" in large letters on the back. The T-shirt was banned in New Zealand, in 2008.[124]
Liz Phair in "Dance of Seven Veils" on her 1993 albumExile in Guyville, uses the word in the line "I only ask because I'm a real cunt in spring".Liz Phair (22 June 1993).Exile in Guyville(Double LP) (vinyl). Matador Records, OLE 051-1.
The word has been used by numerous non-mainstream bands, such as the Australian bandTISM, who released anextended play in 1993Australia the Lucky Cunt (a reference to Australia's label the "lucky country"). They also released a single in 1998 entitled "I Might Be a Cunt, but I'm Not a Fucking Cunt", which was banned.[by whom?][citation needed] The Americangrindcore bandAnal Cunt, on being signed to a bigger label, shortened their name to AxCx.[125]
The 2004 titleThe Getaway: Black Monday bySCEE used the word several times during the game.[126]
In the 2008 titleGrand Theft Auto IV (developed byRockstar North and distributed byTake Two Interactive), the word, amongst many other expletives, was used by James Pegorino who, after finding out that his personal bodyguard hadturned states, exclaimed "The world is a cunt!" while aiming a shotgun at the player.[127]
Variouseuphemisms,minced forms andin-jokes are used to imply the word without actually saying it, thereby escaping obvious censure and censorship.
Deriving from adirty joke: "What's the difference between a circus and a strip club?"- "The circus has a bunch of cunning stunts...".[128] The phrasecunning stunt has been used in popular music. Its first documented appearance was by the English bandCaravan, who released the albumCunning Stunts in July 1975;[129] the title was later used byMetallica for aCD/Video compilation, and in 1992the Cows released analbum with the same title. In his 1980s BBC television programme,Kenny Everett played a vapid starlet,Cupid Stunt.[130]
There are numerous informal acronyms, including various apocryphal stories concerning academic establishments, such as theCambridge UniversityNational Trust Society.[131]
The name "Mike Hunt" is a frequent pun onmy cunt; it has been used in a scene from the moviePorky's,[132] and for a character in theBBC radio comedyRadio Active in the 1980s.[133] "Has Anyone Seen Mike Hunt?" were the words written on a "pink neon sculpture" representing the letter C, in a 2004 exhibition of the alphabet at theBritish Library in collaboration with theInternational Society of Typographic Designers.[134][135]
As well as obvious references, there are also allusions. OnI'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue,Stephen Fry once definedcountryside as the act of "murderingPiers Morgan".[136]
The word "cunt" forms part of some technical terms used in seafaring and other industries.
Nigger is far more taboo than fuck or even cunt. I think if a politician were to be heard off-camera saying fuck, it would be trivial, but if he said nigger, that would be the end of his career.
... in the 1970s I thought this word for the female genitalia shouldn't be abusive. I believed it should be an ordinary, everyday word ... it refers to the internal canal only; all the bits that make it fun are left out. ... I refuse to think of my sex as simply a receptacle for a weapon.
... unlike other words for women's genitals, this one sounds powerful – it demands to be taken seriously. In the twentieth century, its strength didn't diminish. ... it became the most offensive insult one man could throw at another. In 1987, at a test [cricket] match in Pakistan, the umpireShakoor Rana accused English captainMike Gatting of unfair play. When Gatting denied it, Rana called him 'a fucking cheating cunt'. The fracas caused uproar. Yet only one newspaper,The Independent, dared print the expletive-laden exchange in full. Nearly twenty years later, in some quarters, it is used as a term of affection. Yet for most people the C-word is still a very offensive term ...".
I love the idea that this word is still so sacred that you can use it like a torpedo: you can hole people below the waterline; you can make strong men go pale. ... It is a word of immense power, to be used sparingly.
C**T. ... a nasty name for a nasty thing(immediately followingCunny-thumbed)
And this one is from Max. The cunt.
a fool, a dolt, an unpleasant person – of either sex (cf:prick)
A foolish or despicable person, female or male
a very unpleasant person... more noticeable in British and Australian English... in practice the word is usually applied to men"
Random House (1994) is more gender-specific: 'a despicable, contemptible or foolish man'... "Donald, you are a real card-carrying cunt" (1968)Hughes is quotingLighter, Jonathan E. (1994).Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Vol. 1: A-G. Random House.ISBN 978-0-394-54427-4. The original quotation is fromCrowley, Mart (1968).The Boys in the Band. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. p. 42.ASIN B0028OREKU.
a person, usu. male, with no negative implications ... Hello you old cunt
something very unpleasant or difficult to do or achieve ... She had a cunt of a job
First off, while a lot of people still drop the C-word as a sexist pejorative, "serving cunt" is 100% complimentary. As we already mentioned, it started out as drag slang, typically describing a person with an aggressively cool, bold outfit and/or attitude.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)... used of a person with narrow, squinting eyes
The dictionary definition ofcunt at Wiktionary