Finnish profanity - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Many Finns frequently use profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...

in everyday speech even though their culture is considered more high context. While not all Finns swear, frequent swearing is a mark of youth culture. However, it is commonly considered impolite to swear excessively in public and official occasions and particularly in front of children in all regions of the world.

The words often have old origins and some have Pagan roots that after Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

influence were turned from names of deities and spirits to profanity and used as such. Nowadays few Finns know of the origins and intended original use of the words. Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

swearwords can be used as adjectives or adverbs with proper conjugation.

The people in the neighbouring countries to Finland often consider Finnish swear words harsher than their own, and even use heavily mis-pronounced versions of them, most notably perkele

Perkele

Perkele is the god associated with thunder in Finnish mythology, like Thor of Norse mythology. In modern Finnish perkele is a common swearword.-Origins:The name is of Indo-European origin...

. Native Finns tend to consider the harshness exaggerated, while others use it to their advantage.

There is a book made by Jari Tammi named Suuri kirosanakirja ("The great dictionary of profanities"), which is literally a list of Finnish swear words. The book is published by WSOY, and the first edition was published in 1993.

Additionally, virtually any word can be used in place of profanity by for example preceding it with voi (an interjection meaning "oh!", for example voi paska "oh shit!") or adding vieköön (third person singular imperative of the verb viedä "to take", for example hiisi vieköön "may the goblin take it"). These were more prominent in older Finnish, e.g. raato "dead body" or peto "predator". There are also other similar non-offensive constructs like taivahan talikynttilät ("tallow candles of heaven"). There is also an inventory of non-offensive curse words.

List of Finnish profanities

helvetti	Helvetti translates to hell Hell In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations... and has roughly the same meaning in the English language. It has its roots in the Swedish word Helvete, with the same meaning. An often used phrase is "What the hell?" in Finnish "Mitä helvettiä?" Some words used to replace it, depending on dialect, include helkutti, helvata, hemmetti, hemskutti, himputti and himskatti. Derivative terms: helvetillinen "infernal".
hitto, hiisi Hiisi Hiisis are a kind of tutelary spirits in mythologies of the Baltic Sea area, especially in Finland. In Christian tradition, they are most often considered to be malicious or at least very horrifying...	Hitto, probably from pagan Paganism Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions.... origin, is a relatively mild swear word, but still considered an expletive. Its diminutive form is "hittolainen". Both words are references to a sacred Sacred Holiness, or sanctity, is in general the state of being holy or sacred... grove or burial site or a mythical creature (possibly also Hittavainen). It can nowadays be translated to "a devil" or some other little satanic being. The word is in the same category as other "mild" swear words like "helkkari" or "himskatti". Hiisi means either Hell itself or some sort of satanic being, specially as a wish (painu hiiteen, literally "go to hiisi" but means "go to hell". Hiisi vieköön, "may the hiisi take (it)".) Hiisi is also a Finnish, evil mythical creature, but it isn´t the same thing as a devil. Word hiiteen is abbreviation from word hiitola, what is a place what ancient finns thought was hiihis locality. Hitto is usually translated Damn (it). One of the funniest forms of using hitto word could be hitto soikoon, "may the hitto chime".
huora	The word means whore, and like the English word, may be considered too profane for civil conversation, to be replaced by prostituoitu "prostitute" in the literal meaning. Although it can be used to call someone names, it is not used as a swearword on its own (cf. Spanish or Polish).
jumalauta	This is a combination of two words jumala meaning god and auta meaning help (verb, imperative 2nd person). It is used in a similar fashion to Oh God except in Finnish it tends to have a slightly aggressive emphasis, usually used as a way of expressing one's frustration. Another translation for Oh God is Voi luoja (luoja = the creator, a synonym for God God God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism.... ). An ad campaign for Church Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion.... aid for third world countries used JumalAuta as an eyecatcher. This raised discussion for being too profane. Perhaps the most accurate English counterpart for "jumalauta" is "goddamn it", although in English one asks God to damn the person or reason for the problem, whereas in Finnish one simply asks God for some kind of help. Often used replacement words for it are jumankauta, jumaliste or jumalavita.
kulli	A word for "penis", usually literally, considered somewhat profane.
kusi	Kusi, pronounced /kusi/, means "urine Urine Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream... " with a similar connotation as "piss". By itself it refers to actual urine and is considered only mildly offensive in colloquial language. It's used of people in compound words, such as "kusipää" (pisshead, common translation of "asshole"), as very offensive insults. Inoffensive synonyms are the clinical term virtsa ("urine") and the childish pissa ("pee"). The word pissa has drifted so far into everyday usage that in combined form pissapoika (pissing boy) it refers specifically to the squirter on the windshield of cars. Foreign visitors have been amused by the product "Superpiss" for windshield wiper fluid. Derivative terms: kusettaa (jotakuta) "to defraud, to cheat (someone)", kusettaa (in passive mood) "feel an urge to urinate" (these differ by case government Case government In linguistics, case government is government of the grammatical case of verb arguments, when a verb or preposition is said to 'govern' the grammatical case on its noun phrase complement, e.g. zu governs the dative case in German: zu mir 'to me-dative'... ; the former is always accompanied by a subject in the partitive case Partitive case The partitive case is a grammatical case which denotes "partialness", "without result", or "without specific identity". It is also used in contexts where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, or with numbers.... ).
kyrpä	Literally "cock" in the sense of "penis Penis The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates... "; often considered highly offensive. The word nearly always refers to an actual penis and may be used, for example, to express frustration: Voi kyrpä! "Oh fuck!". The widespread verb vituttaa "to feel angry and depressed" originates from its meaning "to want pussy". Therefore, classically, women should not use vituttaa, but kyrpiä, e.g. kyrpii "this makes me feel bad". One form of using the word is "kyrpä otsassa" which means that someone is really pissed off. The literal meaning is "to have a dick on the forehead".
mulkku	Has the literal meaning "penis", but may refer, like English "prick Prick Prick may refer to:* Prick , style of marking tool* Goad, a synonym in an agricultural sense* Prick * Fingerprick, wound for blood sample* Prick, slang term for penis or inconsiderate person- Titled expressive works :... ", to an unpleasant man, both as a noun and as an adjective.
molo	Usually used only literally for "penis", somewhat profane. Has a derivation molopää, corresponding to English "dickhead".
muna	Literally means "egg" and may refer to a literal penis Penis The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates... , but is not considered an insult or particularly profane. For example, there is a gay cruise named Munaristeily, which is publicly marketed as such. It also means "testicle Testicle The testicle is the male gonad in animals. Like the ovaries to which they are homologous, testes are components of both the reproductive system and the endocrine system... ", usually said in plural form munat "testicles". Olla munaa can mean either being courageous or just obscene, to "have balls".
paska	Paska translates as "shit" or "crap" and has approximately the same context in English and Finnish, although it may be more profane. It has the same connonations of "shoddy" or "broken," which may even surpass the word's use in the original sense in frequency. Inoffensive synonyms are kakka ("poo"), especially with children, and the clinical uloste ("excrement"). Uloste appears to have been introduced as a high-class replacement in the 1800s, while paska is believed to have been in continuous use since at least the Proto-Finnic Finnic languages The term Finnic languages often means the Baltic-Finnic languages, an undisputed branch of the Uralic languages. However, it is also commonly used to mean the Finno-Permic languages, a hypothetical intermediate branch that includes Baltic Finnic, or the more disputed Finno-Volgaic languages.... of 3000 BC. Doubt and disbelief are expressed with hevonpaska ("horse's shit", compare "bullshit Bullshit Bullshit is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism bull or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive, although bullshit is commonly used in British English... ") and paskan marjat ("shit's berries.") It can be combined with vittu as in "Vittu tätä paskaa" ("fuck this shit.") A Finnish rock musician Ari Peltonen Ari Pekka "Paska" Peltonen is a Finnish radio reporter, author and musician.Since 1985, Peltonen has given musical performances under the name of Paska , his one-man-band. Peltonen has also used the pseudonyms Jeesus, Jorma and Johnny-Blue, usually as opening acts for Paska... goes by the name, and Paskahousu Paskahousu Paskahousu is a Finnish card game similar to Shithead. The object of the game is to play higher cards than the previously played cards, first to get replacement cards from the stock pile, and, after the stock pile has exhausted, to get rid of one's cards.Although the basic play is the same across... is a card game, a relative of Shithead Shithead (card game) Shithead is a card game similar to Paskahousu. It has also been used in popular culture to be synonymous with the name Ceci. The object of the game is to lose all of one's cards.... , that's popular with children and teenagers. Derivative terms: paskiainen "shithead" (or "son of a bitch"), paskamainen "unfair, depressing, unpleasant, shitty", paskainen "(literally) shitty".
perkele Perkele Perkele is the god associated with thunder in Finnish mythology, like Thor of Norse mythology. In modern Finnish perkele is a common swearword.-Origins:The name is of Indo-European origin...	Perkele was originally imported from Latvian Latvian language Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. It is also sometimes referred to as Lettish. There are about 1.4 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad. The Latvian language has a relatively large number of non-native speakers, atypical for a small language... , supposedly transformed from Latvian god of thunder Pērkons, as an alternate name for the thunder god of Finnish paganism Finnish paganism Finnish paganism was the indigenous pagan religion in Finland, Estonia and Karelia prior to Christianization. It was a polytheistic religion, worshipping a number of different deities... , Ukko Ukko In Finnish mythology, Ukko, in Estonian mythology Uku, is a god of sky, weather, crops and other natural things. He is the most significant god in Finnish and Estonian mythologies, and created the goddess Ilmatar, creator of the world. The Finnish word ukkonen, thunderstorm, is derived from his... , and co-opted by the Christian church, but it isn´t a synonym for the devil. Perkele or Ukko was rain and thundergod, like a Finnish substitution for Zeus." http://www.pakanaverkko.fi/vox/ukko_perkele.shtml. The "r" can be rolled and lengthened, which can be transcribed by repeating it. The word is very common in the country and likely the best known expletive abroad, and enjoys a kind of emblematic status; for instance, the Finnish black metal Black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure.... band Impaled Nazarene Impaled Nazarene Impaled Nazarene is a Finnish black metal band that incorporates elements of grindcore in their sound and punk rock in their aesthetics. The band is currently signed to Osmose Productions of France.... named its 1994 patriotic album Suomi Finland Perkele Suomi Finland Perkele Suomi Finland Perkele is the third full-length album by Impaled Nazarene, the last to feature both Luttinen brothers. It is infamous due to its nationalistic themes; for example, in the lyrics to "Total War - Winter War"... (using the word as a reference to Finnishness, not to the devil) and the more conventional M. A. Numminen M. A. Numminen Mauri Antero Numminen is a Finnish artist, who has worked in several different fields of music and culture.In the 1960s M.A... released a 1971 album known as Perkele! Lauluja Suomesta ("Perkele! Songs from Finland"). When used to express discontent or frustration, perkele often suggests that the speaker is determined to solve the problem, even if it will be difficult. It is associated with sisu Sisu Sisu is a Finnish term loosely translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. However, the word is widely considered to lack a proper translation into any language. Sisu has been described as being integral to understanding... , which in turn is an iconic Finnish trait. Professor Kulonen has described perkele as being ingrained in the older generations, as opposed to kyrpä and vittu for the younger ones. A common and milder replacement word is perhana, and less popular variations include perkules, perskuta, perskuta rallaa and perkeleissön. The word has lent itself to a Swedish expression for Finnish business management practices, Management by perkele Management by perkele Management by perkele is originally a Swedish expression for a Finnish leadership approach that, according to its proponents, takes required actions in a quick and swift way, instead of a prolonged pondering of all possible alternative approaches and points of view before actually getting anything... . Derivative terms: perkeleellinen "infernal".
perse	Perse ("ass Buttocks The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to... ") can be used either literally or as a semi-strong swear word. It is often found in expressions like "Tämä on perseestä" ("This (situation) is from the ass!") The similarities with the Latin phrase "per se", the Hungarian Hungarian language Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe.... "persze" (which means "of course", comes from the aforementioned Latin and is pronounced mostly the same way), the hero Perseus Perseus Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians... and the ancient city of Persepolis Persepolis Perspolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire . Persepolis is situated northeast of the modern city of Shiraz in the Fars Province of modern Iran. In contemporary Persian, the site is known as Takht-e Jamshid... are purely coincidental, although the wide use of "persze" in spoken Hungarian could sound somewhat embarrassing to Finnish visitors. Derivative terms: perseet (olalla), literally "to have one's arse up on one's shoulders", that is, "drunk".
pillu	Pillu translates to "cunt Cunt Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane... " and is not a strong swear word, but not something to say to one's mother-in-law, either. Non-profane synonyms for the literal meaning include römpsä, tavara (lit. "stuff"), toosa (actually an oldish dialectical name with Swedish Swedish language Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish... origin for a little box Box Box describes a variety of containers and receptacles for permanent use as storage, or for temporary use often for transporting contents. The word derives from the Greek πύξος , "box, boxwood".... , container, "dosa". It can also refer to TV), pimppi, pimpsa, tuhero, tussu (which also means female pubic hair Pubic hair Pubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region.... s).
piru	Piru, meaning devil is not always considered a swearword but sometimes used in a similar fashion to the word damn: "Piru vieköön" (lit. "let (the) Devil take (it)"). A more proper word for devil is paholainen. The derivative word pirullinen ("devilish") is used as in English.
reva	Reva is another reference to the female genitalia, akin to vittu. It is also used to refer to backside ("perse" or ass). However, it is not an actual swearword but carries a notion of vulgarity. The former chairman of Finnish Parliament Parliament of Finland The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :... , Mrs. Riitta Uosukainen Riitta Uosukainen Riitta Maria Uosukainen is a Finnish politician and former Member of Parliament. She is one of the eight people to gain the highest honorary title, valtioneuvos, given by the President.... used the word in her controversial autobiography *Liehuva liekinvarsi, where she described herself in the sexual encounters between her and Mr. Topi Uosukainen as rintaa, reittä ja revää* (alternatively spelled "revaa") ("[I was utterly]... breasts, thighs and quim.") Reva is also used occasionally in reference to buttocks and can therefore also be translated as "ass". A loose translation for Täyden kympin reva is "Top class ass".
runkata	Runkata (verb) means "to wank". This, and the agent runkkari or runkku ("wanker") is an extremely offensive word and rarely used, but when used it usually has other swear words said with it such as "Saatanan runkkari!". When used by itself, its meaning is normally more literal.
ryökäle	Scoundrel. A curse word specific to the older generation, now considered non-offensive.
saatana	Saatana means quite literally Satan Satan Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible... , but used in a similar fashion to helvetti. Often used less crude replacement words for it are saamari, samperi and saakeli. Along with "perkele" and "vittu", this is one of the most classic and most used words in Finnish. Often used together with helvetti as saatanan helvetti. The derivative term saatanallinen ("satanic") is used in context as in English.
skeida	Skeida is Helsinki slang Helsinki slang Helsinki slang or stadin slangi is a local dialect and a sociolect of the Finnish language mainly used in the capital Helsinki... for "shit Shit Shit is usually considered vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun it refers to fecal matter and as a verb it means to defecate or defecate in; in the plural it means diarrhea... ". Because of its newer origin, it is considered less profane than paska, although still not exactly a nice word to say. Skeida can be used as a profane insult (tää on täyttä skeidaa "this is full of shit") but unlike paska, it is not used as an exclamation or a curse by itself. Although the word is fairly well known in Helsinki, people from outside the capital area might not understand it. Skeida also means garbage or trash.
vittu	Vittu is an ancient word for the female genitalia but now has the literal meaning of "cunt". Linguistically, it is used similar to how 'fuck' is used in English to add force to a statement or express frustration. Often considered extremely profane, its usage is nowadays not only limited to teenager slang, but is often used as an emphasis in a forceful or frustrated utterance or expression, as in mitä vittua? "what the fuck?". Other common phrases with vittu include voi vittu ("Oh fuck"), (ja) vitut! ("The fuck you say!" / "Bullshit!", lit. "(and) fucks"); haista vittu ("fuck you!", lit. "(go) smell (a) cunt"; painu (hevon) vittuun ("go to (horse's) cunt"); olla naama norsun vitulla, (lit. "to have one's face like the elephant's cunt", meaning to be sour and unfriendly). Entire sentences can be constructed using these combinations "Vittu, vituttaa niin vitusti" (Fuck, I'm so fucking pissed) etc. Occasionally, one hears more colorful constructions, such as Vittujen kevät ja kyrpien takatalvi! (paraphrased, "Oh fucking shit!" or literally "The spring of cunts and the late winter of dicks!"). Notably, vittu is also used as an energetic mood, as in "vitun iso" ("fucking big") or "Mä meen vittu sinne" ("I'm (really) fucking going there") or to declare a negative outcome, as in meni vituiksi ("(smth.) went fucked"). Similar-sounding euphemistic Euphemism A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience... replacements include hitto (see above), vitsi or hitsi. Also kettu ("fox") is often used as a replacement word due to its rhyming with vittu. Several verbs and adjectives have also been derived from vittu: vituttaa literally means "to want/need pussy", though the meaning of it is actually something like "to feel angry and depressed", vittuuntua "to get pissed", vittumainen an adjective for "unpleasant and annoying". In more polite conversation these derivations can be done from the euphemism kettu: ketuttaa, kettumainen etc. The other euphemisms mentioned above cannot be used to form such derivations. Vittu is commonly combined with other profanities, as in vittusaatana and vittuperkele.

List of Finnish profanities

See also