Cunt

Cunt is a vulgar term that refers to the vulva or vagina. It is, however, often used to describe a particularly nasty human being. The word may be used more frequently by males, and is considered by many women (and men) to be extremely offensive. There is a small movement amongst some feminists that seek to reclaim cunt as an honorific, in much the same way that queer has been reclaimed by homosexuals.

Table of contents

1 Usage
2 History
3 Etymology
4 Related Topics
5 External Links
6 Books

Usage

History

Cunt has been in use since the thirteenth century. It did not appear in any major dictionary of the English language from 1795 to 1961 (when it was included in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, with the comment "usu. considered obscene"). Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1972, which cites the word as having been in use since 1230.

Although Shakespeare doesn't use the word explicitly in his plays, he still has fun with it, using word play to sneak it in. In Act III, Scene 2, of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, as the castle's residents are settling in to watch the play-within-the-play, Hamlet asks Ophelia, "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" Ophelia of course, replies, "No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meant country matters?" Then, to drive home the point that the accent is definitely on the first syllable of "country," Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs."

Also see Twelfth Night (Act II Scene V) "there be her very C's, her U's, and her T's: and thus makes she her great P's."

In a similar fashion, the british band The Sex Pistols recorded a song entitled Pretty Vacant, pronounced pretty vay-khunt.

One of the first persons to use the word on British television was the ITN news reader Trevor MacDonald, who accidentally mispronounced Kent.