motherfucker

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Motherfucker (sometimes spelled muthafucka) is a common insult and profanity in North American English and in other varieties of the English language and is considered offensive and inappropriate. It has been suggested that the term was once used in a more literal sense, insinuating that a person has performed incestuous acts with one's mother,^[1] but there is no evidence of this. The first attested sense (from 1918) is "An obnoxious, despicable, or contemptible person; a very unpleasant person"^[2]; a moron, an idiot or backstabber.^[3][4] A study published in 2000 found that British people consider it second only to "cunt" in severity.^[4] The obscenity is occasionally used among friends as a sarcastic expression of affection.

The word appears in George Carlin's Seven Words You Can't Say On Television. In one HBO special, he comments that at one point, someone asked him to remove it, since, as a derivative of the word "fuck," it constituted a duplication.^[5] He later added it back, claiming that the bit's rhythm doesn't work without it.^[5]

Variants

Like many well-used and widely-offensive terms, motherfucker has a large list of derivative terms. Motherhumper, motherfugger, mothersucker, motherlover, motherflower, motherfocus, and many more are sometimes used in polite company or to avoid censorship.^[1]

See also

• Fuck

References