Dutch Swear Words
Posted on 30. May, 2012 by heather in Culture, Dutch Language, Dutch Vocabulary
What is one of the things many people learn first when they learn a new language? Go on, you can say it – we won’t blush. As much as language programs seem to always start with numbers, greetings or even colours, for many people the first word is a swear word.
You might have noticed that some of the other Transparent Language blogs have started to cover swear words and now we’ll go ahead and learn how to swear in Dutch. This is of course by no means an exhaustive list but it should give you a better understanding about swearing in Dutch.
If this isn’t your type of thing, you may wish to stop reading now.
Let’s start at the beginning:
- swear words = scheldwoorden
- swearing = schelden
Swearing in Dutch isn’t pretty. Although to be fair, in what language is it nice? In Dutch, swear words often fall into categories, however, it is very common to combine one or more of the categories to come up with an extra strong swear word. Here are some examples of both singular and combined swear words with their rough translations:
Diseases
Whether you shout the disease when you stub your toe or suggest that someone has the disease, disease related swear words used to be very popular but have started to go a bit out of fashion, especially kanker (cancer).
- kanker/kankerlijer (cancer/lijer means someone that has, so kankerlijer is someone that has cancer)
- tyfuslijer (someone that has typhoid)
- tering (tuberculosis) –> e.g. if your foot gets stuck under the rug as you pass and you almost fall, you might shout out “tering, kutkleed!” –> “tuberculosis, c*nt rug!” (doesn’t really have the same ring to it in English)
Occupations
- hoer (wh*re)
- kuthoer (c*nt wh*re)
- tyfushoer (typhus wh*re)
Genitalia
- kut (c*nt)
- lul (penis)
- klote (scrotum)
Animal Species
- vuilehond (dirty dog)
Appearances
- dikke (fat)
- schele (cross eyed)
Last but not least, we come to a very popular, if not slightly odd, Dutch swear word. This swear word is often used when something is not going right, similar to how in English we might say f**k .
In Dutch the word is verdomme or godverdomme. If you break it down god = god, verdom = damn and me = me.
This was in fact the first swear word I learned when arriving in the Netherlands.
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13 Responses to “Dutch Swear Words”
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This article is wrong, and is wrong where you stated:
Let’s start at the beginning:
•swear words = scheldwoorden
•swearing = schelden
It should be:
•swear words = vloekwoorden
•swearing = vloeken
There is a big difference between the two:
Vloeken is shouting something out loud when things don’t go your way, such as godverdomme, kut!, and these days shit and fuck are widely used amongst the Dutchies as well.
Where as schelden it purposefully insulting someone with the intend to hurt their feelings.
Your examples of mof, jew and kut marokaan are even worse and can be classed as discrimination, in the last instance it’s definately discrimination. Pretty much every reference to a people’s looks, ethnicity, or profession is a personal attack and therefore an insult, not swearing or cursing.
So true, we Dutch do swear a lot and in public!! You have not mention one “swearword” though. That word I should not say here in the States. Every time I say that word to my cat, my American husband looks very distressed, lol. The word is dikzak (fatbag). But in English it sounds different ( dick sack)and is absolutely too much for the decent Americans, ha ha ha….
Dutch also combine swear words with other words – for example “kutfiets”, klerezooi and they also use “krijg de klere” and so on. They also use English “fuck”, “fucking” though.
oh damm. Used the word klootzak ik my last Dutch lesson thinking it had another meaning than scrotum
klootzak (loosely translated means asshole or literally translated means scrotum bag), one of my fav
Ellen says the Dutch swear a lot – well, in 3 year that I’ve been living here and sometimes working too, I have hardly heard them swear a lot. Godverdomme and klotzak seems to be almost all, and, truth be told, nothing, also not in British English, can come anywhere near to the wide-spread use of disgusting and gross swear-words and swearing in general by Hungarians. Anything I’ve heard I can multiply ten times in Hungarian, where use of the f-word is not the ultimate swearing, but a normal linking-word used several times a minute. Swearing starts with more obnoxious phrases, words in themselves seem to be mild, even though sometimes untranslatable – creating swearing phrases seem to be a national sport indeed. If anyone can send me a private mail with comparable vocab and phrases in Dutch just in case and to train my ear, I wouldn’t be aghast.
Nice blog you have here
Can I add one Dutch swearword? It is “mierenneuker”. Literally it means: someone who f*cks ants (mieren). Meant is: somewhone who acts up on details.
I always thought that swearing in Holland was the worst kind. Godverdomme translates (as you say) verdomme or godverdomme. and you correctly break it down to; god = god, verdom = damn and me = me. I am of the opinion that “true” swearing involves using the name of God and blasphemously connecting Him to a vile action or deed, as is the case with Godverdomme. The English mode of swearing is just a bunch of what used to be regarded as impolite or dirty words.
When I lived in Holland as a teenager, I sat next to the girl widely believed to be the “best” at swearing in our class. Thus I learned to swear more in Dutch than I ever did in English or French (my other language.) One of the great things about swearing in Dutch was that my parents had no idea what I was saying and Dutch has such wonderfully aspirated/gutteral sounds that it sounds so impressive! One other thing: my classmate also specialized in saying something I think was Jetje minnar (no idea how it was spelled as it wasn’t something I ever saw in wriitng, only heard when she was upset about a test, but I think it meant For the love of God, or Jesus…Can anyone clarify? Also, to the point made by John: I read somewhere that in the 17th century, English language was generally very colorful according to our standards, but any use of God’s name in vain was just abhorrent.
Jeetje Mina…. but I don’t know exactly what it means. (even though I am Dutch…) It is not as bad as other Dutch curse words.
Kut lul kunt
neuken ist gezund
neuken ist fantatiche
karpotches zyn elastiche
what could q.u.d. mean?
I’m Dutch, and I can tell you shit and fuck are actually used a lot. ‘Klootzak’ has basically the same meaning as asshole, but literally translated it’s scrotum. ‘kut’ is used the same way as ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’. It means vagina.
Flikker = Faggot
Godverdomme = Goddamnit
Slet = Slut
Eikel = Asshole (not literally)
Lul = Asshole (not literally)
Krijg de klere = Fuck you (not literally)