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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

c-word en · NOUN

Meanings

  1. (euphemistic) The word cunt, regarded as vulgar and a swear word.
    • The c-word (cunt) is delivered here with a kind of despairing calm, as if the cuntishness of the British c-words (cunts) was just a sad matter of fact. c. 2017, Stewart Lee, March of the Lemmings:
  2. (euphemistic) The word crap, often considered mildly vulgar.
  3. (euphemistic) Less frequently, a word like cock or cock-sucker, camel-jockey, Chink, ching chong, or cracker, regarded as taboo or offensive.
  4. Any word beginning with c that is not normally taboo but is considered (often humorously) to be so in the given context, like clitoris, condom, cancer, or communism.
    • ‘Cancer’ is a frightening word and once mentioned, death is probably everyone’s next thought. 2025, Paul Burrell, “The C Word for Both the King [Charles III] and Me”, in The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana, London: Sphere, →ISBN:
    • So, the term craft is now tainted. It’s association with weird beer imbibed by stuck up people is going to be hard one to shake. Anyone with that connection in their mind is instantly going to shut down when the c-word is mentioned. 2017 March 9, “Why I don’t Use the Word ‘Craft’ and Why You Shouldn’t Either”, in Brews and Bacon, archived from the original on 10 Mar 2017:
    • Nor can federal AIDS educators bring themselves to mention the c''' word, condom, a strange reticence not shared by any other Western government except that of Catholic Ireland. The CDC has gone through bizarre contortions to avoid naming the, uh, latex device. 1990 Jan., “Condom Conundrum: How the World is Selling Safe Sex”, in Mother Jones Magazine, page 42:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
c-words Number=Plur lexicographic
C-word alternative lexicographic

Relateds

r-word · i-word · n-word · y-word · r-slur · q-word · n-bomb · f-slur · j-word · p-word · f-word · x-word · w-word · o-word · e-word · d-word · b-word · k-word · v-word · u-word · s-word · a-word (‘x’-word euphemisms) · Q-word · z-word · t-word · L-bomb · l-word · f-bomb · related terms C-bomb · h-word · g-word · G-word · Q-slur · m-word