Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cuss |
CussNoun1. A persistently annoying person. 2. A boy or man; "that chap is your host"; "there's a fellow at the door"; "he's a likable cuss". 3. Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger; "expletives were deleted". Verb1. Utter obscenities or profanities; "The drunken men were cursing loudly in the street". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cuss" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1873. (references) |
Synonyms: CussSynonyms: blighter (n), chap (n), curse (n), curse word (n), expletive (n), fella (n), feller (n), fellow (n), gadfly (n), gent (n), lad (n), oath (n), pest (n), pesterer (n), swearing (n), swearword (n), blaspheme (v), imprecate (v), swear (v). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Do you have to use so many cuss words (The Big Lebowski; writing credit: Ethan Coen; Joel Coen) | |
Lyrics | I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss, (A Boy Named Sue; performing artist: Johnny Cash) Hated for for the cussin, but the hatred it made us cuss more (Awnaw; performing artist: Nappy Roots) I won't cuss or hit ya (Baby Got Back; performing artist: SIR MIX-A-LOT) Oh, you cuss around women and you don't even know their names then you're ("Respect Yourself"; performing artist: The Staple Singers) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Independent Little Cuss (1996) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Dick Van Dyke | I don't cuss, and I don't play cards. So I had to learn on to swear, and I had to learn to play cards. I had to learn to shuffle and deal. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Cuss" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 75.00% of the time. "Cuss" is used about 16 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 75% | 12 | 101,599 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 12.5% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 12.5% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 16 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "cuss": cuss word. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "cuss"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | tip (bloke, case, cast, character, cove, denomination, dog, dude, exemplar, exponent, guy, joker, kind, lad, merchant, model, nature, persona, sort, type), mallkim (anathema, ban, blight, curse, damn, damnation, imprecation, perdition, swearing, tarnation, vituperation), çun (boy, chappie, chappy, lad). (various references) | |
Arabic | لعنة (anathema, ban, curse, damn, execration, imprecation, malediction), إمراة لطيفة, شخص (baby, bloke, body, boy, customer, diagnose, effigy, embody, guy, individual, joker, man, person, personate, scout, sort, specimen, spirit, stick). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | ругатня (bad language, curse, damn, epithet, expletive, strafe, swear), ругая (abuse, be down on, call names, curse, damn, drub, get on to smb., inveigh, keelhaul, land on, rail, rate, revile, row, slang, slate, storm at, swear, swear at, vituperate, walk into, whip), никаквец (prick, punk), проклятие (anathema, bane, curse, damn, damnation, execration, imprecation, malediction, malison, perdition), проклинам (air blast, anathematize, curse, damn, darn, execrate, imprecate). (various references) | |
Czech | zaklení (oath, swear word, swearword), zaklít (bewitch). (various references) | |
Danish | bande (band, bevy, blaspheme, curse, gang, swear). (various references) | |
Dutch | vloeken (blaspheme, curse, swear), ketteren (blaspheme, curse, swear), godlasteren (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
Esperanto | sakri (curse, swear), blasfemi (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
Faeroese | svørja (curse, swear), bannast (curse, swear), banna (blaspheme, curse, damn, swear). (various references) | |
Farsi | فحش(curse=), فحش دادن (Curse, Insult), نفرین کردن (Curse, Doggone), لعنت (Curse, Damn). (various references) | |
Finnish | herjata (abuse, blaspheme, curse, revile, swear). (various references) | |
French | type (customer), juron, jurer, blasphémer (curse), animal. (various references) | |
Frisian | flokke (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
German | Schimpfwort (abusive word, curse-word, invective, swearword). (various references) | |
Greek | βλασφημώ (blaspheme, curse, swear), βλασφημία (blasphemy, curse, profanity, swearing). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szitok (damning, swear word, swear-word), átok (anathema, ban, curse, damn, imprecation, imprecatory, malediction, malison), undok alak, pasi (cove, covey, fella, feller, sod), pasas (beggar, bloke, cat, chap, chappie, chappy, coon, cove, feller, gent, guy, joker, perisher), pacák (blighter, bloke, chappie, chappy, cod, fella, feller, guy, jay, jock, perisher, skin), kellemetlen alak (pill, sickener), káromkodás (bad language, cursing, damn, expletive, oath, profane words, profanities, profanity, swear, swear word, swearing, swear-word), hitvány fráter (rotter, shabby fellow, skunk, stinker, twerp), fráter (chuff, critter, dildo, hang-dog, impertinent, loose fish, skunk, stinker), fickó (bozo, chappie, chappy, dog, fella, feller, fellow, gay dog, guy, kipper, rotter, sirrah, varlet, walla), alak (bloke, build, chappie, chappy, configuration, cove, crock, dog, egg, figure, flasher, form, format, guy, missing link, number, roister-doister, shape, show-off, sot, stature, structure). (various references) | |
Icelandic | bölva (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
Indonesian | sumpah (curse, oath, swear). (various references) | |
Italian | bestemmiare (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
Manx | mollaght (curse, damn, malediction), mac mollaght (devil, hell-hound, viper, viper of person). (various references) | |
Norwegian | banne (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | usscay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | maldizer (badmouth, ban, bawl out, curse, imprecate, swear). (various references) | |
Romanian | înjura (abuse, blaspheme, curse, damn, rail, revile, swear). (various references) | |
Russian | проклятие (anathema, condemnation, curse, damn, damnation, imprecation, malediction, malison, perdition, tarnation). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zadrta osoba, psovka (bad language, curse, curse-word, expletive, oath, swear word, swearword), čudak (eccentric, geezer, nut, odd fellow, unco, weirdie). (various references) | |
Spanish | jurar (affirm, blaspheme, curse, pledge, swear, vow). (various references) | |
Swahili | kukufuru (blaspheme, curse, swear). (various references) | |
Swedish | typ (cat, customer, fellow, Mark, merchant, model, Mold, mortal, mould, party, pattern, schmuck, sort, type, variety), svära (blaspheme, curse, imprecate, swear, vow), individ (character, customer, individual, party, type), förbannelse (anathema, curse, execration, imprecation, malediction, maledictive, maledictory). (various references) | |
Turkish | tip (bakhshish, baksheesh, bugger, cast, codger, customer, cut, guy, ilk, job, Johnny, norm, number, perk, perquisite, person, pourboire, sort, specimen, style, tip, type, vintage), lanet (bleeding, curse, damn, damnation, execration, imprecation, imprecatory, malediction, malison, murrain, peevish, reprobation, swearword), küfür (a bad word, abuse, blasphemy, contumely, curse, cuss word, expletive, invective, invectives, oath, profanity, revilement, scurrility, strong language, swearing, swearword), herif (blighter, bloke, bozo, bugger, Buster, cove, customer, Dick, dog, fellow, guy, Johnny, josser, mug, sod, stooge, varlet), adam (bean, bird, bozo, Buster, chap, cookie, cooky, Dick, dog, employee, feller, fellow, fellow man, guy, Jack, joker, man, person). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | прокляття (anathema, ban, bane, curse, damn, damn it, damnation, darn, execration, imprecation, malediction, malison, oath, perdition), парубійко (nipper). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | lời chửi rủa thằng cha, gã (fellow, johnny, joker, josser). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | blasphemare. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cuss": cussed, cussedly, cussedness, cussednesses, cusser, cussers, cusses, cussing, cusso, cussos, cussword, cusswords. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "cuss": concuss, discuss, percuss, rediscuss, succuss. (additional references) | |
Words containing "cuss": caucussed, caucusses, caucussing, concussed, concusses, concussing, concussion, concussions, concussive, decussate, decussated, decussates, decussating, decussation, decussations, defocussed, defocusses, defocussing, discussable, discussant, discussants, discussed, discusser, discussers, discusses, discussible, discussing, discussion, discussions, focussed, focusses, focussing, hocussed, hocusses, hocussing, misfocussed, misfocusses, misfocussing, overfocussed, overfocusses, overfocussing, percussed, percusses, percussing, percussion, percussionist, percussionists, percussions, percussive, percussively, percussiveness. (additional references) | |
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"Cuss" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cassl, ccsu, Ccus, chs, cisc, Ciss, Cissa, Cissi, coses, cosos, cozs, css, csso, csu, csuse, Cucc, cums, cuns, cus, cusa, cuse, cush, Cusk, cuso, Cussi, cust, cusx, cuz, koss, kuss, scuss, suss, Ucsf, Ucst, uss, ussf, wuss, zuss. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cuss" (pronounced ku"s) |
| 3 | k u" s | discuss. |
| 2 | -u" s | bus, Buss, fuss, plus, pus, suss, thus, truss, us, wuss. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-s-s-u" | |
-2 letters: us. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-s-s-u" | |
+1 letter: ascus, casus, cusks, cusps, cusso, scuds, scums, scups, scuts, sucks. | |
+2 letters: causes, census, cestus, cistus, cruses, crusts, cuisse, curses, cuscus, cusecs, cuspis, cussed, cusser, cusses, cussos, custos, discus, musics, sauces, sauchs, scaups, scaurs, schuss, scours, scouse, scouts, scrubs, scrums, scubas, scuffs, sculks, sculls, sculps, scurfs, scutes, shucks, sucres, sulcus, sumacs, viscus. | |
+3 letters: accuses, arcuses, bustics, caestus, caseous, casques, casuals, casuist, catsups, causals, causers, causeys, cayuses, ceruses, cesiums, cesuras, chouses, clauses, concuss, consuls, courses, cousins, crissum, cruises, crusets, crushes, cubisms, cubists, cuestas, cuirass, cuishes, cuisses, cursers, cursors, cushats, cushaws, cuspids, cussers, cussing, customs, cutises, cutlass, discuss, duchess, escudos, excuses, fescues, ficuses, focuses, fucoses, fucuses, fuscous, fustics, hocuses, ictuses, incuses, locusts, miscues, miscuts, mucosas, mucuses, muscats, muscids, muscles, oscules, percuss, prussic, recuses, rescues, rustics, sacbuts, sacques, sacrums, sarcous, saucers, schuits, scouses, scouths, scruffs, sculpts, scyphus, secures, seduces, sheuchs, shmucks, sluices, soucars, sources, spruces, stuccos, subfusc, subsect, succahs, success, succors, succuss, suckers, suckles, sucrase, sucrose, sumachs, suspect, tusches, tussock, tussuck, uncases, uncross, upcasts, usances, viscous. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Spoken 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
