Liste over italienske bandeord

• cazzo (pl. cazzi) [ˈkattso]: direkte oversat, vulgær version af penis. Bruges ved udbrud eller hvor der skal lægges vægt på; der er utallige udtryk der anvender dette ord i en række forskellige sammenhænge, som er beskrevet i nedenstående emner;


• coglione (pl. coglioni) [koʎˈʎoːne]: ordret en fornærmende udgave af testikel; henvist til en person, betyder det som regel idiot, skvat, fjols. Desuden kan det bruges i flere sætninger som avere i coglioni (bogstaveligt, at have nosser, d.v.s. at være meget modig), avere i coglioni girati (bogstaveligt, at have slået testiklerne), hvilket betyder at være vred / i dårligt humør, eller essere un coglione (for at være et fjols). Bemærk, at når sagt til en nær ven (ma quanto sei coglione) er ordet ikke rigtig fornærmende. Det stammer fra latin coleo, pl. coleones, og er dermed beslægtet med det spanske cojones;


• cornuto [korˈnuːto] hanrej, egentlig "gjort med horn" - henviser til en person, hvis ægtefælle er utro. I det sydlige Italien betragtes det som en grov fornærmelse.


• culo [ˈkuːlo]: råt navn for "balder", egentlig "røvhul". Det kan også betyde "held". Et populært udtryk er avere una faccia da culo "at have et balde-lignende ansigt" I nogle regioner bruges Stare sul/in culo som en variant af Stare sul cazzo, begge indikere at man ikke kan lide en eller anden. Det kan også oversættes som "bøsse".


• finocchio [fiˈnɔkkjo]: (lit.: 'fennel') a male homosexual; faggot; poof. A suggestive and very popular hypothesis suggests it may derive from the age of the Holy Inquisition in the Papal State, when fennel seeds would be thrown on homosexuals executed by burning at the stake - in order to mitigate the stench of burned flesh. There is no proof that this is the case, however.


• frocio [ˈfrɔːtʃo]: roughly equivalent to the American faggot, this term originated in Rome but is now widely used nationwide. Less-used synonyms include ricchione (mainly Southern Italy, especially in the Naples area), culattone or culo (mainly in Northern Italy), busone (common in Emilia-Romagna and also a rough synonym for lucky) and finocchio (see);. The usage of this word in Italian may by some people be considered homophobic and politically incorrect.


• gnocca (pl. gnocche) [ˈɲɔkka] typical Bolognese version of figa; is mostly conjugated in its feminine form although sometimes can be used on the masculine form. Although very vulgar,it is not offensive, but appreciative. Indeed, it is diffuse nationwide to refer to an attractive woman;


• mannaggia [manˈnaddʒa]: a generic expression of frustration, mostly used in Southern Italy; often translated as "damn", but has no direct translation. Actually, it comes from the contraction of a former utterance, mal ne aggia,which means in ancient Italian "may he/she get mischief out of it".


• merda [ˈmɛrda]: roughly the same as English word shit


• cabella: it is an old fashioned slang word for "bitch" that was used mostly in certain parts of Sicily. The word can also refer to someone who is considered very beautiful hence the reason it is no longer used;


• puttana [putˈtaːna]: whore, prostitute;


• mignotta [miɲˈɲɔtta]: same meaning of "puttana".


• minchia [ˈmiŋkja]: the same meaning as cazzo but notably a feminine name, it originates from Sicilian language. Nowadays it is common anywhere in Italy, where it is also used as exclamation of surprise, or even appreciation. It is used in the expression testa di minchia (see testa di cazzo).


• stronzo [ˈstrontso]: turd, arsehole or asshole, bitch, sod. It is used as adjective to indicate that somebody is really a bad, cruel,man/woman. It is derived from ancient German strunz (shit)


• vaffanculo [vaffaŋˈkuːlo]: "fuck you!", "fuck off!", "bugger off!". It's a contraction of va' a fare in culo (literally "go to do it in the ass"). Vattela a pijà 'n der culo is the Romanesco form for vaffanculo, while in Northern Italy is also used Vai a cagare (lit. "go to shit"), Vai a dar via il culo (lit. "go sell your arse") or Fottiti (go fuck yourself).


• zoccola [ˈtsɔkkola]: slut, whore; bitch.


• troia [ˈtrɔːja]: slut, Slovenly woman or whore

Minced oaths

These profanities are also commonly altered to minced oaths with very slight changes in order not to appear blasphemies. For instance:

• Porco zio, using zio instead of Dio, where zio is Italian for uncle. Other similar minced oaths can be created also replacing "Dio" with a series of existent or meaningless terms like disi, Diaz, due, disco, dinci, Dionigi,Diomede, Diavolo, etc.


• Maremma maiala, using maremma instead of Madonna, where Maremma is a seaside zone of Tuscany. Curiously, the former is actually widely used in Tuscanian dialect, whereas the latter is seldom used. An expression somewhat similar is Maremma bucaiola (bucaiola means sodomized).


• Porca madosca, using madosca instead of Madonna, where madosca means nothing and it sounds like a macaronic Russian version of "Madonna".

Other minced oaths can be created on the fly when people begin to utter one of the above blasphemies but then choose to "correct" them in real time. The principal example is somebody beginning to say Dio cane (where cane means dog) and choosing to say instead Dio cantante (God (is a) singer) or Dio cantautore (God (is a) songwriter). Also it is very common to say Dio caro (typically used in Alto-Lazio and Umbria), meaning "dear God" or Dio bono (with "bono" being a contraction of "buono", that means good) or Dio bonino (same meaning, typically used in Tuscany and Emilia Romagna) or Dio Bonazzo (same meaning used in Castelfranco Veneto) instead of Dio Boia (where boia means executioner).

Cristo! or Cristo santo!, used to express rage and/or disappointment (similar to "Oh my God" or "Holy Christ"), is usually not consider a bestemmia, though it could be assumed to violate the second commandment of not making "wrongful use of the name of the Lord Thy God".