A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, [ [ Euphemism] "Webster's Online Dictionary"] or in the case of doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker.Fact|date=April 2008 It also may be a substitution of a description of something or someone rather than the name, to avoid revealing secret, holy, or sacred names to the uninitiated, or to obscure the identity of the subject of a conversation from potential eavesdroppers. Some euphemisms are intended to be funny.





Historical linguistics has revealed traces of taboo deformations in many languages. Several are known to have occurred in Indo-European languages, including the original Proto-Indo-European words for "bear" ("*rtkos"), "wolf" ("*wlkwos"), and "deer" (originally, "hart"; the deformation likely occurred to avoid confusion with "heart"). In different Indo-European languages, each of these words has a difficult etymology because of taboo deformations&mdash;a euphemism was substituted for the original, which no longer occurs in the language. An example is the Slavic root for "bear"&mdash;"*medu-ed-", which means "honey eater". One example in English is "donkey" replacing the old Indo-European-derived word "ass". The word "dandelion" (lit., tooth of lion, referring to the shape of the leaves) is another example, being a substitute for "pissenlit", meaning "wet the bed", a possible reference to the fact that dandelion was used as a diuretic.

In some languages of the Pacific, using the name of a deceased chief is taboo. Amongst indigenous Australians, it is forbidden to use the name, image, or audio-visual recording of the deceased, so that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation now publishes a warning to indigenous Australians when using names, images or audio-visual recordings of people who have died [ [ Cultural Protocol - Death in a community] "Australian Broadcasting Corporation"] .



The common names of illicit drugs, and the plants used to obtain them, often undergo a process similar to taboo deformation, because new terms are devised in order to discuss them secretly in the presence of others. This process often occurs in English (e.g. "speed" or "crank" for "meth"). It occurs even more in Spanish, e.g. the deformation of names for cannabis: "mota" (lit., "something which moves" on the black market), replacing "grifa" (lit., "something coarse to the touch"), replacing "marihuana" (a female personal name, María Juana), replacing "cañamo" (the original Spanish name for the plant, derived from the Latin genus name "Cannabis"). All four of these names are still used in various parts of the Hispanophone world, although "cañamo" ironically has the least underworld connotation, and is often used to describe industrial hemp, or legitimate medically-prescribed cannabis.

The "euphemism treadmill"

Euphemisms often evolve over time into taboo words themselves, through a process described by W.V.O. Quine, and more recently dubbed the "euphemism treadmill" by Steven Pinker. ("cf." Gresham's Law in economics). This is the well-known linguistic process known as pejoration.




Connotations easily change over time. "Idiot," "imbecile," and "moron" were once neutral terms for an adult of toddler, preschool, and primary school mental ages, respectively. [Gould, S.J., "The Mismeasure of Man", W.W. Norton & Co, New York, 1996, pp. 188-189] As with Gresham's law, negative connotations tend to crowd out neutral ones, so the phrase mentally retarded was pressed into service to replace them. [ [ "American Heritage Dictionary" definition of "retarded" via] ] Now that, too, is considered rude, used commonly as an insult of a person, thing, or idea. As a result, new terms like "mentally challenged," "with an intellectual disability" and "special needs" have replaced "retarded". A similar progression occurred with

:" → → → disabledphysically challengeddifferently abled



In the early 1960s, Major League Baseball franchise owner and promoter Bill Veeck, who was missing part of a leg, argued against the then-favored euphemism "handicapped," saying he preferred "crippled" because it was merely descriptive and did not carry connotations of limiting one's capability the way "handicapped" (and all of its subsequent euphemisms) seemed to do ("Veeck as in Wreck", chapter "I'm Not Handicapped, I'm Crippled"). Later, comedian George Carlin gave a famous monologue of how he thought euphemisms can undermine appropriate attitudes towards serious issues such as the evolving terms describing the medical problem of the cumulative mental trauma of soldiers in high stress situations: [George Carlin, "They're Only Words", Track 14 on "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics", Atlantic/Wea audio CD, 1990.]



A complementary "dysphemism treadmill" exists, but is more rarely observed. One modern example is the word "". "That sucks" began as American shorthand for "that sucks cock," referring to fellatio, but quickly evolved into slang for "that is very unpleasant" ;Fact|date=June 2007 along with the exactly synonymous phrase "that blows", it developed over the late-20th century from being an extremely vulgar phrase to near-acceptability. Likewise, "scumbag", which was originally a reference to a used condom, now is a fairly mild epithet. [ [ Random] ] This is in stark contrast to the related term "douchebag", which is still semi-common but has a much more negative connotation.

In his remarks on the ever-changing London slang, made in "Down and Out in Paris and London", George Orwell mentioned both the "euphemism treadmill" and the "dysphemism treadmill". He did not use the now-established terms, but observed and commented on the respective processes as early as in 1933.

Classification of euphemisms

Many euphemisms fall into one or more of these categories:
* Terms of foreign and/or technical origin ("derrière", "copulation", "perspire", "urinate", "security breach", "mierda de toro", "prophylactic", "feces occur", "sheist")
* Abbreviations ("SOB" for "son of a bitch", "BS" for "bullshit", "TS" for "tough shit", "SOL" for "shit out of luck" or "PDQ" for "pretty damn(ed) quick", [ [ The] ] "BFD" for "big fucking deal", "STFU" or "STHU" for "shut the fuck/hell up")
** Abbreviations using a spelling alphabet, especially in military contexts ("Charlie Foxtrot" for "Cluster fuck", "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Oscar" for "What the fuck, over?", "Bravo Sierra" for "bullshit"—"See" Military slang)
** Plays on abbreviations ("H-e-double hockey sticks" for "hell", "a-double snakes" or "a-double-dollar-signs" for "ass", "Sugar Honey Iced Tea" for "shit", "bee with an itch" or "witch with a capital B" for "bitch", "catch (or see) you next Tuesday (or Thursday)" for "cunt")
** Use in mostly clinical settings ("" for "pain in the ass" patient)
** Abbreviations for phrases that are not otherwise common ("PEBKAC" for "Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair", "TOBAS" for "Take Out Back And Shoot")
* Abstractions and ambiguities ("it" for excrement, "the situation" for pregnancy, "going to the other side" for death, "do it" or "come together" in reference a sexual act, as well as "readiness" in reference to an erection.)
* Indirections ("behind", "unmentionables", "privates", "live together", "go to the bathroom", "sleep together", "sub-navel activities")
* Mispronunciation ("goldarnit", "dadgummit", "freakin", "shoot"—"See" minced oath)
* Litotes or reserved understatement ("not exactly thin" for "fat", "not completely truthful" for "lied", "not unlike cheating" for "an instance of cheating")
* Changing nouns to modifiers ("makes her look slutty" for "is a slut", "right-wing element" for "Right Wing")

There is some disagreement over whether certain terms are or are not euphemisms. For example, sometimes the phrase "visually impaired" is labeled as a politically correct euphemism for "blind". However, visual impairment can be a broader term, including, for example, people who have partial sight in one eye, or even those with uncorrected poor vision, a group that would be excluded by the word "blind".

There are three antonyms of euphemism: "dysphemism", "cacophemism", and "power word". The first can be either offensive or merely humorously deprecating with the second one generally used more often in the sense of something deliberately offensive. The last is used mainly in arguments to make a point seem more correct.

The evolution of euphemisms

Euphemisms may be formed in a number of ways. "Periphrasis" or "circumlocution" is one of the most common—to "speak around" a given word, implying it without saying it. Over time, circumlocutions become recognized as established euphemisms for particular words or ideas.

To alter the pronunciation or spelling of a taboo word (such as a swear word) to form a euphemism is known as "taboo deformation". There is an astonishing number of taboo deformations in English, of which many refer to the infamous four-letter words. In American English, words which are unacceptable on television, such as "fuck", may be represented by deformations such as "freak"&mdash;even in children's cartoons. Some examples of Cockney rhyming slang may serve the same purpose—to call a person a "berk" sounds less offensive than to call him a "cunt", though "berk" is short for "Berkeley Hunt" which rhymes with "cunt".

Bureaucracies such as the military and large corporations frequently spawn euphemisms of a more deliberate (and to some, more sinisterFact|date=September 2008) nature. Organizations coin "doublespeak" expressions to describe objectionable actions in terms that seem neutral or inoffensive. For example, a term used in the past for contamination by radioactive isotopes is "Sunshine units". [Citation
last = McCool
first = W.C.
publication-date = 1957-02-06
title = Return of Rongelapese to their Home Island - Note by the Secretary
publisher = United States Atomic Energy Commission
url =
accessdate = 2007-11-07

Military organizations kill people, sometimes deliberately and sometimes by mistake; in doublespeak, the first may be called "neutralizing the target" and the second "collateral damage". Violent destruction of non-state enemies may be referred to as "pacification". Two common terms when a soldier is accidentally killed ("buys the farm") by their own side are "friendly fire" or "blue on blue" ("BOBbing")—"buy the farm" has its own interesting history. [ [] , "Buy the Farm"]


"Abortion" originally meant premature birth, and came to mean birth before viability. The term "abort" was extended to mean any kind of premature ending, such as aborting the launch of a rocket. Euphemisms have developed around the original meaning. "Abortion", by itself, came to mean "induced abortion" or "elective abortion" exclusively. Hence the parallel term "spontaneous abortion", an "act of nature", was dropped in favor of the more neutral-sound "miscarriage". The politically-charged subject of elective abortion also led to parallel euphemisms: "pro-life" being characterized as another way of saying "anti-abortion" and "pro-choice" similarly coming to mean "pro-abortion".

Industrial unpleasantness such as pollution may be toned down to "outgassing" or "runoff"&mdash;descriptions of physical processes rather than their damaging consequences. Some of this may simply be the application of precise technical terminology in the place of popular usage, but beyond precision, the advantage of technical terminology may be its lack of emotional undertones and the likelihood the general public (at least initially) will not recognize it for what it really is; the disadvantage being the lack of real-life context. Terms like "waste" and "wastewater" are also avoided in favor of terms such as "byproduct", "recycling", "reclaimed water" and "effluent". In the oil industry, "oil-based drilling muds" were simply renamed "organic phase drilling muds", where "organic phase" is a euphemism for "oil".

Euphemisms for the profane

Profane words and expressions in the English language are often taken from three areas: religion, excretion, and sex. While profanities themselves have been around for centuries, their limited use in public and by the media has only slowly become socially acceptable, and there are still many expressions which cannot be used in polite conversation. One vantage point into the current societal tolerance of profane language is found in the frequency of such language on prime-time television. The word "damn" (and most other religious profanity in the English language) has lost its shock value, and as a consequence, euphemisms for it (e.g., dang, darn-it) have taken on a very stodgy feeling. Excretory profanity such as "piss" and "shit" in some cases may be acceptable among informal (and usually youngerFact|date=September 2008) friends (while they almost are never acceptable in formal relationships or public use); euphemisms such as "Number One" and "Number Two" may be preferred for use with children. Most sexual terms and expressions, even technical ones, either remain unacceptable for general use or have undergone radical rehabilitation.

Religious euphemisms





Excretory euphemisms

While "urinate" and "defecate" are not euphemisms, they are used almost exclusively in a clinical sense. The basic Anglo-Saxon words for these functions, "piss" and "shit", are considered vulgarities and unacceptable in general use, despite the use of "piss" in the King James Bible (in Isaiah 36:12 and elsewhere).


There are any number of lengthier periphrases for excretion used to excuse oneself from company, such as to "powder one’s nose", to "see a man about a dog" (or "horse") or to "drop the kids off at the pool" (these expressions could actually be regarded as dysphemisms). Slang expressions which are neither particularly euphemistic nor dysphemistic, such as "take a leak", form a separate categoryFact|date=September 2008.

In some languages, various other sensitive subjects give rise to euphemisms and dysphemisms. In Spanish, one such subject is class and status. The word "señorito" is an example, although the euphemism treadmill has turned it to a disparagement, at least in MexicoFact|date=September 2008.

exual euphemisms

The Latin term "pudendum" and the Greek term "αιδοίον" ("aidoion") for the genitals literally mean "shameful thing". "Groin," "crotch," and "loins" refer to a larger region of the body, but are euphemistic when used to refer to the genitals. The word "masturbate" is derived from Latin, the word "manus" meaning hand and the word "sturbare" meaning to defile. In pornographic stories, the words "rosebud" and "starfish" are often used as euphemisms for "anus," generally in the context of anal sex. The shock jock Howard Stern once promoted the euphemism "balloon knot" for the anus, referring to the external appearance of the skin surrounding the sphincter muscle.

"Sexual intercourse" was once a euphemism derived from the more general term "intercourse" by itself, which simply meant "meeting" but now is normally used as a synonym for the longer phrase, thus making the town of Intercourse, Pennsylvania, a subject of jokes in modern usage.





Euphemisms referring to profanity itself

In the Spanish language, words that mean "swear word" are used as exclamations in lieu of an actual swear word. The Spanish word "maldición", literally meaning "curse" or "bad word", is occasionally used as an interjection of lament or anger, to replace any of several Spanish profanities that would otherwise be used in that same context. The same is true in Italian with the word "maledizione", and in Canadian French with "sacre".

In Greek, the word κατάρα "curse" is found, and in English (especially British usage), an exclamation that is used in a similar style is "curses". The stereotyped "Perils of Pauline" silent film might have the villain tying his victim to a railroad track. When the hero rescues the heroine, the card might say, "Curses! Foiled again!" in place of whatever cursing the character presumably uttered.

Euphemisms for death

The English language contains numerous euphemisms related to dying, death, burial, and the people and places which deal with death. The practice of using euphemisms for death is likely to have originated with the magical belief that to speak the word "death" was to invite death; where to "draw Death's attention" is the ultimate bad fortune—a common theory holds that death is a taboo subject in most English-speaking cultures for precisely this reason. It may be said that one is not dying, but "fading quickly" because "the end is near". People who have died are referred to as having "passed away" or "passed" or "departed". "Deceased" is a euphemism for "dead", and sometimes the "deceased" is said to have "gone to a better place", but this is used primarily among the religious with a concept of Heaven.

Some Christians often use phrases such as "gone to be with the Lord" or "called to higher service" (this latter expression being particularly prevalent in the Salvation Army) to express their belief that physical death is not the end.

There are many euphemisms for the dead body, some polite and some profane, as well as dysphemisms such as "worm food", or "dead meat". Modern rhyming slang contains the expression "brown bread". The corpse was once referred to as "the shroud (or house or tenement) of clay", and modern funerary workers use terms such as "the loved one" (title of a novel about Hollywood undertakers by Evelyn Waugh) or "the dear departed". (They themselves have given up the euphemism "funeral director" for "grief therapist", and hold "arrangement conferences" with relatives.) Among themselves, mortuary technicians often refer to the corpse as the "client". A recently dead person may be referred to as "the late John Doe". The terms "cemetery" for "graveyard" and "undertaking" for "burial" are so well-established that most people do not even recognize them as euphemisms. In fact, undertaking has taken on a negative connotation, as undertakers have a devious reputation.

Contemporary euphemisms and dysphemisms for death tend to be quite colorful, and someone who has died is said to have "passed away", "passed on", "checked out", "bit the big one", "kicked the bucket", "bitten the dust", "popped their clogs", "pegged it", "carked it", "turned their toes up", "bought the farm" (comes from the G.I. Insurance Policy as the amount of money the next of kin would receive was enough to buy a farm)., "cashed in their chips", "croaked", "given up the ghost" (originally a more respectful term, "cf." the death of Jesus as translated in the King James Version of the Bible ), "gone south", "gone west", "shuffled off this mortal coil" (from William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"), "Run down the curtain and joined the Choir Invisible", or "assumed room temperature" (actually a dysphemism in use among mortuary technicians). When buried, they may be said to be "pushing up daisies", "sleeping the big sleep", "taking a dirt nap", "checking out the grass from underneath" or "six feet under". There are hundreds of such expressions in use. (Old Burma-Shave jingle: "If daisies are your favorite flower, keep pushin’ up those miles per hour!") In Edwin Muir's 'The Horses' a euphemism is used to show the elimination of the human race 'The seven days war that put the world to sleep.'

"Euthanasia" also attracts euphemisms. One may "put one out of one’s misery", "put one to sleep", or "have one put down", the latter two phrases being used primarily with dogs and cats who have made their final visit to the veterinarian. (These terms are not usually applied to humans, because both medical ethics and civil law deprecate euthanasia.) In fact, Dr. Bernard Nathanson has pointed out that the word "euthanasia" itself is a euphemism, being Greek for "good death".

There are a few euphemisms for killing which are neither respectful nor playful, but rather clinical and detached. Some examples of this type are "terminate", "wet work", to "take care of" one or to "take them for a ride", to "do them in", to "off", to "take them out", to "snuff them out", "frag", "smoke", "lace", "whack" or "waste" someone. To "cut loose" or "open up" on someone or something means "to shoot at with every available weapon".


To "terminate with prejudice" generally means to end one's employment without possibility of rehire (as opposed to "lay off", where the person can expect rehire if business picks up), but the related term to "terminate with extreme prejudice" now usually means to kill. The adjective "extreme" may occasionally be omitted. In a famous line from the movie "Apocalypse Now", Captain Willard is told to terminate Colonel Kurtz’s commission "with extreme prejudice". An acronym, "TWEP" has been coined from this phrase, which can be used as a verb: "He was TWEPed/TWEPped."

The Dead Parrot Sketch from "Monty Python's Flying Circus" contains an extensive list of euphemisms for death, referring to the deceased parrot that the character played by John Cleese had purchased. The popularity of the sketch has itself increased the popularity of some of these euphemisms &mdash; indeed, it has introduced another euphemism for death &mdash; "pining for the fjords" &mdash; although in the sketch that phrase was used by the shop owner to assert that the parrot was "not" dead, but was merely quiet and contemplative.

A similar passage occurs near the beginning of "The Twelve Chairs", where Bezenchuk, the undertaker, astonishes Vorobyaninov with his classification of people by the euphemisms used to speak of their deaths. The game Dungeon Siege contains many euphemisms for death as well.


The name of the village of Ban Grong Greng in Thailand is a euphemism for "Death Village". It literally means the Village of the Dreaded Gong. It is so named because it is the home to Wat Grong Greng (temple of the dreaded gong) at which the burning of bodies at funerals is preceded by the beating of a gong.

Euphemisms in job titles




Common examples

Other common euphemisms include:
* "wellness" for benefits and treatments that tend to only be used in times of "sickness"
* "restroom" for "toilet room" (the word "toilet" was itself originally a euphemism). This is an American English version.
* "a love of musical theatre" or "confirmed bachelor" for male homosexuality; cf "women in sensible shoes" as a reference to lesbianism.
* "acting like rabbits", "making love to", "getting it on", "cheeky time", "doing it", "making the beast with two backs", or "sleeping with" for "having sex with"
* "sanitary landfill" for "garbage dump" (and a temporary garbage dump is a "transfer station"), also often called a "Civic Amenity" in the UK
* "ill-advised" for "very poor or bad"
* "pre-owned vehicles" for "used cars"
* A student being "held back" a grade level for having "failed" the grade level
* "correctional facility" for "prison"
* "the north of Ireland" for "Northern Ireland", which is seen by many Irish people as a term imposed by the British and therefore a profanity; however, saying "the north of Ireland" may be primarily a way of identifying oneself with the Irish Nationalist cause, rather than a euphemism
* "bathroom tissue", "t.p.", or "bath tissue" for toilet paper (Usually used by toilet paper manufacturers)
* "custodian" or "caretaker" for "janitor" (Also originally a euphemism—in Latin, it means "doorman". In the British Secret Service, it may still carry the ancient meaning. It does in the novels of John Le Carré.)
* "sanitation worker" (or, sarcastically, "sanitation officer" or "sanitation engineer"), or "garbologist", for "bin man" or "garbage man"
* "working class neighborhood" for "ghetto"
* "digital scatologist" for a bug fixer who studies memory dumps. The job title "Digital Scatologist" has been printed on business cards by some Silicon Valley companies.
* "force", "police action", or "conflict" for "war"
* "mature" for "old" or "elderly"
* "haem" or "heme" (Americanism) for blood, often used in medical settings ("Severe heme loss").
*"enhanced interrogation technique" for torture.
*"persuasion" for 'torture'
*"fee" for "fine".
*"specific about what one eats" for being a "picky eater".
*"adult entertainment" for "pornography".
* "to have been paid" for 'being fired from or by one's employer'
*"to cut excesses (in a budget)" for "to fire employees".


The word euphemism itself can be used as a euphemism. In the animated short "It's Grinch Night" (See Dr. Seuss), a child asks to go to the "euphemism", where "euphemism" is being used as a euphemism for "outhouse". This euphemistic use of "euphemism" also occurred in the play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" where a character requests, "Martha, will you show her where we keep the, uh, euphemism?" It is analogous to the 19th-century use of "unmentionables" for "underpants".

ee also

* distancing language
* dysphemism
* code word (figure of speech)
* double entendre
* framing (social sciences)
* litotes
* minced oath
* newspeak
* pun
* sexual slang
* slander and libel
* spin (public relations)
* Thomas Bowdler
* wordplay


* Benveniste, Émile, "Euphémismes anciens and modernes", in: "Problèmes de linguistique générale", vol. 1, pp. 308-314. [originally published in: "Die Sprache", I (1949), pp. 116-122] .
* Rawson, Hugh, "A Dictionary of Euphemism & Other Doublespeak", second edition, 1995. ISBN
* R.W.Holder: "How Not to Say What You Mean: A Dictionary of Euphemisms", Oxford University Press, 501 pages, 2003. ISBN
* "Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression" (ISSN US)
* McGlone, M.S., Beck, G., & Pfiester, R.A. (2006). Contamination and camouflage in euphemisms. "Communication Monographs, 73," 261-282.

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