Word
fuck
US/ˈfək/
UK/fˈʌk/
Definitions
01to have sex
C1 · Advanced Vulgar · Slang
v. to have sexual intercourse with someone.
v. to engage in sexual intercourse. Transitive or intransitive; highly vulgar in all contexts.
“They were caught fucking in the back of the car.”
“The film was censored in several countries because it depicted the protagonists fucking in a graphic and unsimulated manner.”
Synonyms
02to ruin or cheat
B2 · Upper Intermediate Vulgar · Slang
v. to treat someone badly, cheat them, or break something completely.
v. to exploit, defraud, or severely damage something or someone. Often used in the passive voice to describe a hopeless situation.
“The company really fucked its employees by cutting their pensions.”
“If the engine fails while we are in the middle of the desert, we are completely fucked.”
03dismissal
B2 · Upper Intermediate Vulgar · Slang
v. used to show you do not care about someone or that you are very angry with them.
v. used as an imperative to express contemptuous dismissal or extreme hostility toward a person or entity.
“I'm tired of his excuses, so I told him to fuck off.”
“He decided to just say fuck the consequences and quit his job without having another one lined up.”
04a person
C1 · Advanced Countable noun Vulgar · Slang
n. an offensive word for a person you dislike or think is stupid.
n. a term of contempt for a person, often modified by an adjective like 'dumb' or 'lazy'.
“Some stupid fuck nearly crashed into my car this morning.”
“He was acting like a total fuck, so nobody wanted to invite him to the party.”
05care or concern
B2 · Upper Intermediate Countable noun Vulgar · Slang
n. the smallest amount of care or interest, usually used in negative sentences.
n. the minimal unit of concern or consideration; almost exclusively used in negative constructions or to indicate apathy.
“I don't give a fuck what they think about my new haircut.”
“She made it abundantly clear that she didn't give a flying fuck about the committee's recommendations.”
06emphasis
C1 · Advanced Vulgar · Slang
adv. used to make an adjective or a statement much stronger.
adv. used as an intensifier to add emotional weight to an adjective, adverb, or a 'yes/no' response.
“That movie was fuckin' amazing.”
“When asked if he wanted to go to the concert, he replied, 'Fuck yes.'”
07to mess with
B2 · Upper Intermediate Vulgar · Slang
v. to interfere with something or try to change it in a bad way.
v. to meddle, interfere, or tinker with something, often with negative results. Usually used with the preposition 'with'.
“Don't fuck with the settings on my computer.”
“The hackers tried to fuck with the internal database, but the security protocols blocked them.”
Real-World Examples
“She told him to “fuck off”, choosing instead to go out with McNeil.” “Fuck Catalonia!” They sang: “ We are Atlético”.” Etymology
The word traces from Proto-Indo-European pewǵ- (“to strike, punch, stab”), through Proto-Germanic fukkōną and Old English fuccian, into Middle English fukken by the 13th century. A 772 CE charter notes a place called Fuccerham, possibly “home of the fucker” or “pasture of the fucker”; a John le Fucker appears in 1278, likely a variant of Fulcher, Fucher, or Foker. By 1310, Cheshire court documents refer to Roger Fuckebythenavele, a name that may have been a deliberate provocation or a direct allusion to a depraved act. The word entered dictionaries in 1598, having displaced earlier terms like jape and swive by 1500, its usage uninterrupted since.
The earliest unambiguous sexual use is in the 1310 case, though the term’s northern Germanic/Scandinavian roots are reinforced by earlier Scots attestations of fuk or fuck. Folk-etymologies proposing backronyms such as “fornication under consent of the king” are demonstrably false. The verb’s seventh sense derives from feck, a related term, but the connection remains obscure.
A place name, a legal record, a dictionary entry, and a lexical takeover: fuck endured without scholarly consensus on its earliest meanings, its history marked by ambiguity and utility. The surviving traces include not only the word itself but also the futile efforts of later generations to repackage its origins as something more palatable.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
VERB
NOUN
ADVERB
Idioms
01. fuck if I know
02. fuck it
03. fuck knows
04. fuck off
07. fuck this
08. fuck with
09. fuck y'all
10. fuck you
Show all 20
11. fucked by the fickle finger of fate
12. fucked off
13. fucked over
15. give a fuck
16. give zero fucks
17. holy fuck
18. mercy fuck
19. pity fuck
20. sweet fuck all
- Exam level
- CambridgeCambridgeCambridge English QualificationsThe exam suite from Cambridge University Press & Assessment, from A1 Movers up to C2 Proficiency. The benchmark names double as CEFR labels.B2 FirstIELTSIELTSInternational English Language Testing SystemThe 0–9 band test co-owned by the British Council, IDP, and Cambridge. Used for university entry, work, and migration.5.5–6.5TOEFL iBTTOEFL iBTTest of English as a Foreign Language, Internet-Based TestETS's academic English test, the standard route for US university admissions. Scored 0–120, with a 1–6 scale since 2026.1–6 scale: 4.0–4.572–94TOEICTOEICTest of English for International CommunicationETS's workplace English test, big in Japan and Korea. Listening & Reading scores 10–990 and tops out at C1.785–944
- Frequency
- Very common
- Level
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Updated
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