dirty word

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɜːtiˌwɜːd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdɚɾijˌwɝd/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

dirty word (plural dirty words)

1. A word that is considered vulgar, not necessarily sexual in nature.

   The child was made to sit in the corner as punishment for saying a dirty word.

   • 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:

     Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.

2. (idiomatic) The name of a topic that a person prefers not to hear or discuss.

   Job is a dirty word to him.

• (vulgar term): curse, curse word, oath, profanity

• cacophemism
• dysphemism
• euphemism