son of a bitch

See also: sonofabitch, and son-of-a-bitch

English

Alternative forms

• son-of-a-bitch, sonofabitch, sonovabitch, sonuvabitch, son of bitch, sumbitch

Etymology

Alteration of an earlier phrase represented by Middle English biche-sone (“son of a bitch”, literally “bitch's son”), from Old Norse bikkju-sonr (“son of a bitch”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

son of a bitch (plural sons of bitches or sons of a bitch)

1. (derogatory, slang, vulgar) An objectionable, despicable person.

   My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son of a bitch.

   • 1685, John Eachard, The grounds & occasions of the contempt of the clergy and religion enquired into, 9th edition, London, page 252:

     There's that snarling cur, and son of a Bitch Boccaline.

   • 1691, Thomas Shadwell, The Humorists, a Comedy, London, page 22:

     He had the insolence obliquely to give me the name of Son of a Bitch.

   • 1703, Thomas Brown, Letters from the living to the living, relating to the present transactions both Publick and Private, page 105:

     […] Count Davia, like a Son of a Bitch as he is, Chop'd upon mine and the Duke of Mantuu's Equipage, and rubb'd off with our Plate, Jewels, and other Knicknacks of Inestimable Value.

   • 1969, Shel Silverstein (lyrics and music), “A Boy Named Sue”, performed by Johnny Cash:

     But ya ought to thank me, before I die / For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye / Because I'm the son-of-a-bitch that named you Sue

2. (derogatory, slang, vulgar) Any objectionable thing.

   "This son of a bitch won’t move!" Marty exclaimed as he grappled with the supermarket cart.

3. (US, vulgar, slang) An impressive, daring, or admirable man.
   • 2022, Angelo Indelicato, The Tales of a Templar Knight:

     I quickly checked around and I found Simon, he was hit but landed on a dead horse, the lucky son of a bitch could have been dead but the animal absorbed his fall and now he was on the ground trying to stay alive.

Synonyms

• son of a duck
• son of a fuck
• son of a gun
• son of a sea-cook
• son of a whore
• SOB, SOAB

Derived terms

• son-of-a-bitch stew
• [[I'll be a son of a bitch|

Translations

objectionable person

• Afrikaans: seun van 'n teef
• Albanian: horr (sq)
• Arabic: اِبْن كَلْب m (ibn kalb)

  Egyptian Arabic: ابن كلب m (ibni kalb)

• Armenian: շան տղա (šan tġa)
• Asturian: fíu de puta m
• Azerbaijani: peysər, qancığın balası, anası qəhbə
• Basque: putaseme (eu)
• Belarusian: сын су́кі (syn súki), су́кін сын m (súkin syn)
• Breton: mab c'hast m
• Bulgarian: ку́чи син m (kúči sin)
• Burmese: ခွေးမသား (my) (hkwe:ma.sa:)
• Catalan: fill de puta m, filla de puta f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 婊子養的／婊子养的 (zh) (biǎozi yǎng de), 婊子养的 (zh) (biǎozi yǎng de), 龜兒子／龟儿子 (zh) (guī'érzi), 龟儿子 (zh) (guī'érzi), 王八蛋 (zh) (wángbadàn), 狗娘養的／狗娘养的 (zh) (gǒuniáng yǎng de), 狗娘养的 (zh) (gǒu niang yǎng de)

• Czech: zkurvysyn (cs) m
• Danish: skiderik c
• Dutch: hoerenjong (nl) m, hoerenzoon (nl) m, hoerenkind (nl) n, klootzak (nl) m
• Esperanto: putinido, putinfilo
• Estonian: persevest, hoorapoeg, litapoeg
• Finnish: paskiainen (fi), kusipää (fi)
• French: fils de pute (fr) m
• Galician: fillo de puta m, filla de puta f
• Georgian: ბოზის შვილი (bozis švili), ნაბოზარა (nabozara), ნაბოზარი (nabozari)
• German: Hurensohn (de) m, Hurenkind (de) n, Scheißkerl (de) m, Dreckskerl (de) m
• Greek: πουτάνας γιος m (poutánas gios)
• Hebrew: בֶּן־זוֹנָה (he) m (ben-zoná), בן כלבה m (ben kalba)
• Hindi: बदमाश (hi) m (badmāś)
• Hungarian: rohadék (hu), szemétláda (hu), gazember (hu), (vulgar) szarházi (hu), (archaic) kurafi (hu)
• Icelandic: tíkarsonur m
• Indonesian: bajingan (id), keparat (id) (more vulgar)
• Interlingua: filio de puta (ia)
• Irish: mac soith m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: figlio di puttana (it) m
• Japanese: 畜生目 (ちくしょうめ, chikushōme), 糞っ垂れ (ja) (くそったれ, kusottare), 糞野郎 (くそやろう, kusoyarō)
• Korean: 개새끼 (ko) (gaesaekki), 개자식 (ko) (gaejasik)
• Kyrgyz: иттин баласы (ittin balası)
• Latvian: kuces dēls m
• Macedonian: кучкин син m (kučkin sin)
• Malay: bangsat (ms), anak haram (ms), anak gampang
• Malayalam: (pulayadi mone)
• Norman: sénévébitche m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: drittsekk m

• Persian: مادر جنده (mâdar jende) (more vulgar), تخمِ سگ (toxm-e sag) (more literal)
• Polish: sukinsyn (pl) m, skurwysyn (pl) m (more vulgar)
• Portuguese: filho da puta (pt) m, filha da puta (pt) f
• Romanian: pui de curvă m
• Russian: су́кин сын (ru) m (súkin syn)
• Scottish Gaelic: mac na galla m, mac strìopaich (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кучкин си̑н m, кујин си̑н m

  Roman: kučkin sȋn m, kujin sȋn m

• Slovak: zkurvysyn m
• Slovene: prasec m
• Spanish: hijo de puta (es) m, hijueputa (es) m or f, hideputa (es) m or f, joputa (es) m, jueputa (es) m or f, hijo de la chingada (es) m (Mexico), hijo de la verga m (N Mexico), hijoputa (es)
• Swedish: jävel (sv) c, arsel (sv) n, horunge (sv) c
• Tagalog: anak ng putang ina
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} ลูกกะหรี่ (lûuk gà-rìi)
• Turkish: orospu çocuğu (tr)
• Ukrainian: су́чий син m (súčyj syn)
• Urdu: بدمعاش m (badmāś)
• Vietnamese: đồ chó đẻ
• Welsh: ap gast m
• Yakut: ыт уола (ıt uola)
• Yiddish: כּלבֿ m (kelev)

objectionable thing

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: ابن كلب m (ibni kalb)

• Catalan: puto (ca) m, puta (ca) f
• Finnish: perhana (fi)
• French: saloperie (fr) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: μαλακία (el) f (malakía)
• Spanish: hijueputa (es)
• Swedish: skit (sv) c, fanskap (sv) n, jävel (sv) c
• Thai: เหี้ย (th) (hîia)

Interjection

son of a bitch

1. (slang, vulgar) Used to express anger, contempt, astonishment, disappointment, etc.

Translations

to express anger, contempt etc.

• Hungarian: (probably the most offensive insult in Hungarian) kurva anyád (hu)
• Polish: kurwa (pl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: fir-ar mă-sa
• Swedish: fan (sv), fitta (sv), helvete (sv), jävlar (sv), jäklar (sv)

See also

• son of a whore