Look up motherfucker in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Motherfucker (sometimes abbreviated as mofo, mf, or mf'er) is an American vulgarism. Its literal sense, referring to one who participates in sexual intercourse with a mother, either someone else's, or his own is seldom implied. Rather, it refers to a mean, despicable, or vicious person, or any particularly difficult or frustrating situation or alternatively as an inverted praise of the individual or thing's "badness". Due to the semiotics, it is not generally applied personally to females, a personal direct object referred to as such is invariably male.^[1]

Variants [link]

Like many widely used offensive terms, motherfucker has a large list of minced oaths. Motherhumper, motherfugger, mother f'er, mothersucker, motherlover, mofo, motherflower, motherkisser and many more are sometimes used in polite company or to avoid censorship.^[2] The participle motherfucking is often used as an emphatic, in the same way as the less strong fucking. The verb to motherfuck also exists, although it is less common. Conversely, when paired with an adjective, it can become a term denoting such things as originality and masculinity, as in the related phrase "bad ass mother fucker".

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Usually the word 'motherfucker' is used in place of a noun in a sentence, such as: That trig problem was a real motherfucker.

Almost always, the word does not actually imply that someone has had sex with his own or another person's mother. Instead it is understood as a swear word, related to the usage of parent word "fuck."

The word is also commonly used as an expletive. For example if a person is told an incredible tale or description of an event they may respond with "Motherfucker" said slowly.

Popular culture [link]

The word appears in George Carlin's Seven Words You Can't Say on Television. In one HBO special, he comments that at one point, someone asked him to remove it, since, as a derivative of the word "fuck," it constituted a duplication.^[3] He later added it back, claiming that the bit's rhythm doesn't work without it.^[3]

Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five has, since its original publication, been challenged in libraries and schools on the grounds that the word is used occasionally by the soldiers in the story. Vonnegut later joked in a speech, published in the collection Fates Worse Than Death, that "Ever since that word was published, way back in 1969, children have been attempting to have intercourse with their mothers. When it will stop no one knows."^[4]

Richard Pryor used to the word frequently in his skits. Sometimes, in a, perhaps almost ironic fashion, he even used it with a sense of endearment. ^[5]

The word has become something of a catchphrase for Samuel L. Jackson, who frequently utters the word in his movies.^[6]

The Motherfucker with the Hat is a 2011 Broadway play.

Literature [link]

The Compleat Motherfucker: A History of the Mother of All Dirty Words by Jim Dawson^[7] is a history of the word in black culture and in American literature, film, comedy and music.

References [link]