Mat (profanity)

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Term for strong obscene profanity in Russian

title: "Mat (profanity)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["russian-profanity", "russian-slang", "sexual-slang", "russian-words-and-phrases"] description: "Term for strong obscene profanity in Russian" topic_path: "geography/russia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mat_(profanity)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Term for strong obscene profanity in Russian ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Mat_(Russian_profanity).png" caption="Этимологический словарь русского языка Макса Фасмера}} (''Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language''). [[Heidelberg]], 1950–1958"] ::

Mat () is the term for vulgar, obscene, or profane language in Russian and some other Slavic language communities.

Four pillars of mat

In 2013, Roskomnadzor compiled a list of four lexical roots, with any words derived from these roots – nouns, adjectives, verbs, participles etc. – of the Russian language which it deemed "absolutely unacceptable in the mass media": khuy ('cock'); pizda ('cunt'); *yebat''' ('to fuck'); and blyad ('whore'). Roskomnadzor defined the banned terms as follows: "Obscene designation of the male genital organ, obscene designation of the female genital organ, obscene designation of the process of copulation and obscene designation of a woman of dissolute behavior, as well as all linguistic units derived from these words".

David Remnick writes that mat has thousands of variations but ultimately centers on those four words.

Mat-words were included by Polish publisher Jan Baudouin de Courtenay in the 3rd and 4th editions of the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, which was printed four times in 1903–1909 (twice) and in 1911–1912, 1912–1914. The inclusion of rude and abusive words became an obstacle to the reprinting of this version of the dictionary in the Soviet Union for censorship reasons.

Khuy

Khuy (хуй; {{audio|Ru-Khuy.ogg|хуй}}), sometimes transliterated as hui or hooy, means 'cock', 'penis', or for an equivalent colloquial register, 'dick'. The etymology of the term is unclear. Mainstream theories include from Proto-Indo European (PIE) **ks-u-*, related to хвоя (khvoya, 'pine needles'), attributed to Pederson, 1908.

From PIE *hau-, related to хвост (khvost, 'tail'), attributed to Merlingen, 1955; from Mongolian хуй (khui, meaning 'sheath' or 'scabbard'). This was the etymology endorsed by the Soviet government and attributed to Maxim Gorky, who claimed it was a loan word, imposed during the Mongol yoke.

The first volume of the Great Dictionary of Mat by the Russian linguist and folklorist treats only expressions with the stem хуй (khuy), numbering over 500 entries; 12 volumes are planned. The word khuy also appears in various other Slavic languages with the same meaning and pronunciation but not always the same spelling, such as the Polish chuj.

A minor internet meme swept the Russian segment of the internet with a clip from the Chinese play Li Huiniang, where the heroine's name was repeated several times, which for a Russian ear sounds like khuynya (хуйня), an obscene term for something unknown or unimportant or strange.

Pizda

Pizdá (пизда́; {{audio|Ru-Pizda.ogg|пизда}}) means 'cunt'. A derivative of this word is the interjection and noun pizdets. This word, depending on the situation, can express a vivid form of almost any emotion, ranging from sadness and annoyance ("Pizdets, my girlfriend cheated on me", or "Pizdets, I missed my flight"), to an expression of joy ("Pizdets, my son has just been born!")

Yebát'

Yebát (еба́ть; {{audio|Ru-Yebat.ogg|ебать}}) means 'to fuck (somebody)'. This verb usually expresses a unilateral action and requires (or implies) a direct object. The mutual action expressed in English with verbs 'to copulate', 'to have intercourse' is rendered in mat by the reciprocal form of the verb, yebátsya (еба́ться): 'to fuck each other'. Historically, women have been perceived as sexually submissive, so the verb mostly refers to an action of a man. In modern times it may refer to a woman's action, in contexts when she initiates (or plans to initiate) the intercourse or plays an active role. See the wiktionary entry for some figurative uses of the word.

Blyád'

*Blyád''' (блядь; {{audio|Ru-блядь.ogg|блядь}}) means 'whore'. is preserved in the Church Slavonic in three meanings: 'deception, delusion', 'idle talk, trivia' and 'debauchery, adultery'.

To enhance the expressivity, the word may be combined with the non-mat insult suka (сука, 'bitch') to form suka, blyád (сука, блядь) especially among Internet users and memes, an approximate analogue for the expression 'fucking shit'. The term is popular in the Counter-Strike video game community in the stylized form of "rush B, cyka blyat".

History and use

Some claim that the term mat derives from the Russian word for mother, a component of the key phrase Ёб твою мать, yob tvoyu mat ('fuck your mother'). However there is a Russian expression благим матом (blagim matom) which has no relation to obscenities, and whose etymology is unsure as well.

Obscenities are among the earliest recorded attestations of the Russian language (the first written mat words date to the early Middle Ages).

Mikhail Lermontov's 1834 A Holiday in Peterhof (Петергофский праздник) is one example of the usage of mat.

::data[format=table]

And so I will not pay you:Итак, тебе не заплачу я:Iták, tebé ne zaplachú ya:
::

The prologue to Luka Mudishchev, probably written at some time in the mid 19th century, was often ascribed to Ivan Barkov, an obscene poet who lived in the 18th century: ::data[format=table]

Hear ye, matrons and widows fair,О вы, замужние, о вдовы,O vy, zamuzhnie, o vdovy,
::

Mat is also used in humor or puns by juxtaposing innocent words so that the result will sound as if an obscene word was used. An example is a Don Cossack song cited in And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov: :Щуку я, щуку я, щуку я поймала. :Девица красная, уху я варила. :Уху я, уху я, уху я варила. Here Уху я варила ('I cooked the fish stew') may be reinterpreted as У хуя варила ('Cooked near the dick') or even Ух, хуй я варила ('Ooh, I cooked a dick').

The contemporaneous use of mat is widespread, especially in the army, police, blue-collar workers, the criminal world, and many other all-male milieus, with particular fervor in the male-dominated military and the structurally similar social strata. An article by Victor Erofeyev (translated by Andrew Bromfeld) analyzing the history, overtones, and sociology of mat appeared in the 15 September 2003 issue of The New Yorker.

Legal issues

In the Soviet Union obscenity was censored in print and in the media, and could be prosecuted as petty hooliganism when used in public places. With the collapse of the Soviet Union censorship of mat stopped, and a number of writers, singers, and actors started using taboo-shattering mat in their works. For example, the singer Sergey "Shnur" Shnurov is notorious of using mat in his songs.

In 2013 mat has been banned in Russia in all mass media, printed and electronic. Since 1 July 2014, mat has been banned in Russia from all movies, theatrical productions, and concerts.

In modern Russia, since the times of the Soviet Union, the use of obscenities in public aggravates a disorderly conduct and may lead to its qualification as petty hooliganism, punishable under article 20.1.1 of the Offences Code of Russia, although there was no clear legal definition what exactly constitutes an obscenity.

Notes

References

References

  1. [https://iz.ru/news/563178 Роскомнадзор накажет СМИ только за четыре матерных слова], ''[[Izvestiya]]'', 25 December 2013
  2. Remnick, David. (5 May 2014). "Putin's Four Dirty Words".
  3. Courtenay, Владимир Иванович Даль, Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de. (31 May 1909). "English: Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language".
  4. Courtenay, Владимир Иванович Даль, Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de. (31 May 1907). "English: Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language".
  5. Courtenay, Владимир Иванович Даль, Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de. (31 May 1863). "English: Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language".
  6. Courtenay, Владимир Иванович Даль, Jan Niecisław Ignacy Baudouin de. (31 May 1863). "English: Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language".
  7. "В. И. Даль. Биобиблиографический указатель / Рос. гос. б-ка, НИО библиографии; Сост. О.Г. Горбачева. Ред. Т.Я. Брискман. Библиогр. ред. Е.А. Акимова. — М.: Пашков Дом, 2004. — С. 9—11. — 134 с.".
  8. Предисловие от редакции // Толковый словарь живого великорусского языка. В 4 т. Том 1 / В.И. Даль. — 6-е изд. стер. — М.: Дрофа, Русский язык-Медиа, 2011. — С. III—XII.
  9. "Comments".
  10. link. Voronezh. (2005)
  11. Николай Ищущий, [https://proza.ru/2024/06/28/100 *** Ня? Шинима *** ня?], ''proza.ru''
  12. In the [[Old East Slavic]] the word блѧдь (блядь in modern orthography) – ''blyad'', meaning: 'deception, nonsense, insane, adulteress',[[Izmail Sreznevsky
  13. [[:ru:Дьяченко, Григорий Михайлович. Дьяченко, Григорий Михайлович]]. [[:ru:Полный церковнославянский словарь
  14. (3 March 2021). "CS:GO Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Counter-Strike Slang".
  15. Yerofeyev, Victor. (12 October 2003). "The Unique Power of Russia's Underground Language".
  16. [https://newslab.ru/article/415266 Благим матом]
  17. [[:ru:Русский_мат#Мат_в_берестяных_грамотах. Obscene lexics in birch bark documents]]
  18. "«Лука Мудищев» — история и мифология расхожие заблуждения («Luka Mudishchev» – istoriya i mifologiya raskhozhiye zabluzhdeniya)".
  19. "А. Чернов. Запрещенный классик".
  20. Mikhailin, Vadim. (29 September 2004). "Russian Army Mat as a Code System Controlling Behaviour in the Russian Army". The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies.
  21. Erofeyev, Victor. (15 September 2003). "Dirty Words".
  22. {{ill. Artyom Rondarev. ru. Артём Рондарев, [https://actualcomment.ru/rasfigachechnaya.html Расфигачечная], 9 February 2016
  23. (8 December 2003). "Article 20.1". Government of Russia.
  24. link. (24 July 2009)

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