twat

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The word twat has various functions, its primary meaning being a vulgar synonym for the human vulva, vagina, or clitoris.^[1] It is also widely used as a derogatory epithet, especially in British English. The word is usually considered vulgar in all contexts.

Origins

The word possibly originates from the Old Norse þveit meaning cut, slit, or forest clearing.^[1]

Historical usage

Robert Browning famously misused the term in his 1841 poem "Pippa Passes", believing it to be an item of nun's clothing:^[2]

Then owls and bats

Cowls and twats

Monks and nuns in a cloister's moods

Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry

Its meaning was in reality the same then as now, Browning's misconception probably having arisen from a line in a 1660 satirical poem, Vanity of Vanities:

They talk't of his having a Cardinalls Hat

They'd send him as soon an Old Nuns Twat

Another mistaken (or perhaps dialectal) use was in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1870 science fiction novel The Coming Race, in an apparent satire on Darwin:

Among the pithy sayings which, according to tradition, the philosopher bequeathed to posterity in rhythmical form and sententious brevity, this is notably recorded: "Humble yourselves, my descendants; the father of your race was a 'twat' (tadpole): exalt yourselves, my descendants, for it was the same Divine Thought which created your father that develops itself in exalting you."

Usage

Road sign pointing to Twatt, Shetland which was rated no. 4 of the most vulgar-sounding names in Rude Britain, along with its Orkney counterpart.

Although sometimes used as a reference to the female genitalia, the word twat is more often used in various other ways:

• As a derogatory insult, a pejorative - 'you twat!'
• A fool, synonymous with the word twit - 'You are a real twat and a half' (often used in the UK)^[3]
• To express annoyance - 'I caught my twatting knackers in it!'^{[citation needed]}
• To express shock - 'Oh twat!'^{[citation needed]}
• To hit something (or someone) hard or violently - 'Let's get out there and twat it!'^[4]
• In its past participle form, to be drunk or otherwise intoxicated - 'Let's get twatted'^{[citation needed]}

In August 2008, the publisher of a children's book, My Sister Jodie by Jacqueline Wilson, decided to reprint the word 'twat' as 'twit' in future editions of the novel so as not to offend readers or readers' parents.^[5]

See also

• Fanny
• Cunt
• Seven dirty words

References