merda

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”). Compare Occitan mèrda, French merde, Spanish mierda.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈmɛr.də]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmɛɾ.ða]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

merda f (plural merdes)

1. (slang, vulgar) dung, excrement, shit

Derived terms

• a tota merda
• cul i merda
• merda de bruixa
• merder
• merderada
• merdícola
• merdissaire
• merdisser
• merdós

 

Further reading

• “merda” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Esperanto

Alternative forms

• m*rda (censored)

Etymology

From merdo +‎ -a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈmerda]
• Rhymes: -erda
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

Adjective

merda (accusative singular merdan, plural merdaj, accusative plural merdajn)

1. (vulgar, proscribed) shitty
   • 2009, “Fek al Esperanto!”, in Fek al Esperanto!‎^[1], performed by La Pafklik:

     Mi parolas pri merda lingvo
     Elpensita de stulta avo

     I'm talking about a shitty language
     Thought up by a stupid grandpa

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

merda

1. third-person singular past historic of merder

Anagrams

• damer, drame, marde

Galician

Alternative forms

• miarda (regional: Goiáns)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese *merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɾda/ [ˈmɛɾ.ð̞ɐ]
• Rhymes: -ɛɾda
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

Noun

merda f (plural merdas) (vulgar)

1. shit, dung, excrement

   Synonyms: bosta, caca, cagalla, cagallón, excremento, feces, frasca, zorollo

2. dirt

   Synonyms: cotra, porcallada, sucidade

3. (figuratively) crap (all senses)

   Synonyms: caca, porcallada, trapallada

Related terms

• enmerdar
• merdada
• merdalla
• merdán
• merdeiro
• merdento

 

Interjection

merda!

1. (vulgar) shit!, rats!, crap!

   Synonym: corno

References

• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “merda”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “merda”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “merda”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “merda”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Interlingua

Etymology

Italian merda, French merde, Spanish mierda, and Portuguese merda.

Noun

merda (plural merdas)

1. (vulgar) shit

Synonyms

• fece (“feces”)

Italian

Alternative forms

• m*rda (censored)

Etymology

From Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛr.da/, ^*/ˈmɛr.da/
• Rhymes: -ɛrda
• Hyphenation: mèr‧da

Noun

merda f (plural merde, diminutive merdìna or merdolìna, pejorative merdàccia (“shitty person”))

1. (vulgar, slang, figurative) shit, crap (all senses)

Related terms

• merdaio
• merdoso

Descendants

• → Alemannic German: merde
• → Aromanian: merdu

Anagrams

• -derma, derma, derma-, madre

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-h₂- (“stench”), related to Proto-Slavic *smordъ (“stink, odor”) (Czech, Slovene, Serbo-Croatian smrad, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian смрад (smrad), Belarusian смуро́д (smuród), Ukrainian смо́рід (smórid), Polish smród), as well as Latvian smards (“odor”), Lithuanian smirdėti.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmer.da/, [ˈmɛrd̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmer.da/, [ˈmɛrd̪ä]

Noun

merda f (genitive merdae); first declension

1. (slang, vulgar) dung, excrement, shit
   • 1st c. CE, anonymous graffito in Pompeii:

     Ut merdas edatis, qui scripseras sopionis

     You who have drawn pictures of penises, eat shit!

   • 1st c. CE, Martial, Epigrammata :

     Os et labra tibi lingit, Manneia, catellus: Non miror, merdas si libet esse cani.

     The pup licks your mouth and lips, Manneia. It doesn't surprise me if dogs like eating shit.

   • 1499, Erasmus, Letter to Faustus Andrelinus, lauded poet :

     Nos in Anglia nonnihil promovimus. […] Tu quoque, si sapis, huc advolabis. Quid ita te iuvat hominem tam nasutum inter merdas Gallicas consenescere?

     We have made some progress in England. […] You, too, if you're wise, will "fly" your way here. What pleases you, a man of such great wit, about growing old in French shit?

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	merda	merdae
Genitive	merdae	merdārum
Dative	merdae	merdīs
Accusative	merdam	merdās
Ablative	merdā	merdīs
Vocative	merda	merdae

Derived terms

• *dismerdō

Descendants

• Dalmatian:
  • miarda
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: merda
  • Italian: merda
    • → Alemannic German: merde
    • → Aromanian: merdu
  • Sicilian: merda
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: merda, melda
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: mierde
  • Istriot: mierda
  • Romansch: merda, miarda
  • Venetian: merda
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: merde
    • Middle French: merde
      • French: merde, marde
    • Walloon: miere
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: merda
  • Occitan: mèrda
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: mierda
  • Asturian: mierda
  • Galician: merda
  • Portuguese: merda
  • Old Spanish: mierda
    • Ladino: medra
    • Spanish: mierda

References

• “merda”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “merda”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• merda in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• merda in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛr.da/
• Rhymes: -ɛrda
• Syllabification: mer‧da

Verb

merda

1. third-person singular present of merdać

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• m*rda (censored)

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese *merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/ [ˈmɛɦ.dɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/ [ˈmɛɦ.dɐ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɾ.dɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɻ.da/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɾ.dɐ/ [ˈmɛɾ.ðɐ]

• (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛɦdɐ]
• (Caipira) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛɹdɐ]
• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɛʁdɐ, (Portugal, São Paulo) -ɛɾdɐ
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

• Audio (Portugal, Oporto):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (South Korea):

  (file)

Noun

merda f (plural merdas) (vulgar)

1. (uncountable) shit; faeces (excretory product evacuated from the bowels)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fezes

   • 17th century, Gregório de Matos, “A certo frade na Villa de Sam Francisco, a quem hua moça fingindose agradecida à seus repetidos galanteyos, lhe mandou em simulações de doce huma panella de merda”, in James Amado, compiler, Crônica do viver baiano seiscentista feita em verso pelo doutor Gregório de Matos e Guerra, Salvador: Janaína, published 1969:

     […] que havia a Moça mandar, senão merda com mais merda?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. a chunk of shit

   Synonyms: cocô, (rare) fez

3. (uncountable) shit (rubbish; worthless matter)
4. piece of shit (an object of poor quality)

   Synonyms: bosta, porcaria

   O teu trabalho é uma merda.

   Your work is shit!

   • 1963, Jorge Amado, Seara vermelha‎^[2], São Paulo: Martins, page 167:

     Hum! A cidade... Tem um aeroporto, tem um clube de dança onde jogam gamão, boas casas de comércio, em resumo é uma merda.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1990 October, Ricardo Soares, quoting Luiz Camargo Wolfmann, “Ricardo Soares entrevista Luiz Camargo Wolfmann”, in Trip‎^[3], São Paulo: Abril, page 9:

     Se você vai ver direito, sabe, esse quadro por quanto foi vendido. Você olha o quadro e fala: "Essa merda não vale nada". Essa merda foi vendida por 54 milhões de dólares.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (colloquial, usually uncountable) shit (nonsense; bullshit)
   • 1972, Cassandra Rios, Muros altos‎^[4], Rio de Janeiro: Distribuidora Record, page 193:

     […] garanto que nem se comoveu quando queimou as cartas, entretanto fica sofrendo por causa de uma Nanci que resolveu sair falando "merda" para todo o mundo...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1998, Fernanda Young, Carta para alguém bem perto‎^[5], São Paulo: Objetiva, →ISBN, page 19:

     Na família de Ariana, todas as mulheres morrem esclerosadas. Porque ninguém avisa às coitadas que elas estão falando merda, pensando merda e fedendo a merda.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

6. (colloquial) shit (anything) [with alguma or nenhuma]

   Fiquei aqui o dia todo e não fiz merda nenhuma.

   I stayed here all day long and didn't do shit.

7. (figuratively, colloquial) shit (problem or difficult situation)
8. (figuratively, colloquial) a state of misery or penury

   Synonyms: miséria, pobreza, necessidade, penúria

   Nós nunca conseguimos sair da merda.

   We never made it out of this misery.

Derived terms

• merdimbuca
• merdinha
• monte de merda

 

Noun

merda m or f by sense (plural merdas)

1. (vulgar, derogatory) shit (a worthless or cowardly person; used particularly of men)

Adjective

merda m or f (plural merdas)

1. (vulgar, informal) shit; shitty

   Synonym: de merda

   • 2023 October 19, BAKA (lyrics and music), “QUE DIA MERDA” (0:28 from the start), in EMO NAS BAHAMAS‎^[6]:

     Fiz uma reza / pra essa novela / passar depressa / que dia merda

     I prayed / for this soap opera / to pass quickly / what a shitty day

Interjection

merda! (vulgar)

1. shit! (expression of worry, failure, shock, etc.)

   Synonyms: bosta, caralho, (Brazil) cacete

   • 1978, Sérgio Faraco, Hombre: contos‎^[7], Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, page 84:

     Merda, nunca errei nessa distância.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (theater, slang) break a leg! (a superstitious expression of encouragement prior to a performance)
   • 2011, Stella Maris Rezende, A mocinha do Mercado Central, São Paulo: Globo, →ISBN, page unnumbeded:

     "O guardião" girou a maçaneta e entrou, com os braços dobrados para trás, mas fitando-a firmemente: / — Vim te desejar muita merda!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2023, Tuna Serzedello, O teatro que muda o mundo: experiências com teatro jovem, São Paulo: Peirópolis, unnumbered page:

     Boa leitura e merda!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)