Profanity

Profanity is socially offensive language, which may also be called bad language, strong language, coarse language, foul language, bad words, vulgar language, lewd language, choice words or expletives. The use of such language is swearing, cursing or cussing.

Used in this sense, profanity is a subset of a language's lexicon that is generally considered to be strongly impolite, rude or offensive. It can show a debasement of someone or something, or show intense emotion. Linguistically, profanity takes the form of words or verbal expressions that fall into the category of formulaic language.

In its older, more literal sense, "profanity" refers to a lack of respect for things that are held to be sacred, which implies anything inspiring deserving of reverence, as well as behaviour showing similar disrespect or causing religious offense.

The term "profane" originates from classical Latin "profanus", literally "before (outside) the temple". It carried the meaning of either "desecrating what is holy" or "with a secular purpose" as early as the 1450s CE. Profanity represented secular indifference to religion or religious figures, while blasphemy was a more offensive attack on religion and religious figures, considered sinful, and a direct violation of The Ten Commandments. Moreover, many Bible verses speak against swearing.

Profanities, in the original meaning of blasphemous profanity, are part of the ancient tradition of the comic cults, which laughed and scoffed at the deity or deities. An example from Gargantua and Pantagruel is "Christ, look ye, its Mere de ... merde ... shit, Mother of God."

In English, swear words and curse words tend to have Germanic, rather than Latin etymology. "shit" has a Germanic root, as, probably, does "fuck". The more technical alternatives are often Latin in origin, such as "defecate" or "excrete", and "fornicate" or "copulate" respectively.

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