Quebec French profanities, known as sacres (singular: sacre; French: sacrer, "to consecrate"), are words and expressions related to Catholicism and its liturgy that are used as strong profanities in Quebec French (the main variety of Canadian French) and in Acadian French (spoken in Maritime Provinces, east of Quebec, and a small portion of Aroostook County, Maine, in the United States). Sacres are considered stronger in Canada than the foul expressions common to other varieties of French, which centre on sex and excrement (such as merde, "shit").