damn

English

Etymology

Middle English dampnen, from Old French damner, from Latin damnare (“to condemn, inflict loss upon”), from damnum (“loss”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dæm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm
• Homophone: dam

Verb

damn (third-person singular simple present damns, present participle damning, simple past and past participle damned)

1. (theology, transitive, intransitive) To condemn to hell.

   The official position is that anyone who does this will be damned for all eternity.

   Only God can damn. — I damn you eternally, fiend!

2. To condemn; to declare guilty; to doom; to adjudge to punishment; to sentence; to censure.
   • Shakespeare

     He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.

3. To put out of favor; to ruin; to label negatively.

   I’m afraid that if I speak out on this, I’ll be damned as a troublemaker.

4. To condemn as unfit, harmful, of poor quality, unsuccessful, invalid, immoral or illegal.
   • Alexander Pope

     You are not so arrant a critic as to damn them [the works of modern poets] […] without hearing.

5. (vulgar) To curse; put a curse upon.

   That man stole my wallet. Damn him!

6. (archaic) To invoke damnation; to curse.
   • Goldsmith:

     […] while I inwardly damn.

Conjugation

Conjugation of damn

infinitive	(to) damn
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	damn	damned
2nd person singular	damn, damnest1
3rd person singular	damns, damneth1
plural	damn
subjunctive	damn
imperative	damn	—
participles	damning	damned
1) Archaic or obsolete.

Related terms

• damnation
• damned
• damnable
• dammit
• give a damn
• tinker's damn

• goddammit
• God damn, goddamn
• goddamned
• damn skippy
• damn straight

• damn by association
• damn with faint praise
• damn the torpedoes
• damn your eyes
• damn your hide

Translations

theology: to condemn to hell

• Arabic: لَعَنَ‎‎ (laʿana)
• Armenian: անիծել (hy) (anicel)
• Bulgarian: проклинам (bg) (proklinam)
• Catalan: maleir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: zatratit
• Danish: fordømt
• Esperanto: damni
• Finnish: tuomita (fi) (kadotukseen)
• German: verdammen

• Ido: damnar (io)
• Italian: dannare
• Japanese: 地獄に落とす (じごくにおとす, jigoku ni otosu)
• Lithuanian: prakeikti
• Macedonian: проколнува (prokólnuva)
• Persian: لعنت‎‎ (fa) (la'nat)
• Polish: przekląć
• Portuguese: amaldiçoar (pt), danar (pt), condenar (pt)
• Russian: проклина́ть (ru) impf (proklinátʹ), прокля́сть (ru) pf (prokljástʹ)
• Spanish: maldecir (es), condenar (es)
• Swedish: förbanna (sv), fördöma (sv)

to put out of favor

• Bulgarian: осъждам (bg) (osǎždam), порицавам (bg) (poricavam)

• Finnish: tuomita (fi)

to condemn as unfit etc.

• Esperanto: damni
• Finnish: tuomita (fi)
• French: damner (fr), réprouver (fr)

• Italian: condannare (it)
• Spanish: condenar (es), reprobar (es)

to put a curse upon

• Bulgarian: кълна (bg) (kǎlna), проклинам (bg) (proklinam)
• Catalan: maleir (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: ^{(please verify)} 死

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 該死

• Estonian: needma

• Finnish: kirota (fi)
• Italian: maledire (it)
• Portuguese: amaldiçoar (pt)
• Spanish: maldecir (es)
• Swedish: förbanna (sv)
• Turkish: lanetlemek (tr)

Adjective

damn (not comparable)

1. (vulgar) Generic intensifier. Fucking; bloody.

   Shut the damn door!

Synonyms

• see also Thesaurus:damned

Translations

generic intensifier

• Catalan: maleït (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 死 (sei²), 鬼 (gwai²)

• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kirottu (fi), samperin, saamarin, pahuksen
• French: foutu (fr)
• German: verdammt (de)
• Hungarian: átkozott (hu)
• Indonesian: berengsek (id), sialan (id), bedebah (id), keparat (id)

• Italian: maledetto (it) m, fottuto (it) m, cazzo (it) m
• Japanese: 糞 (ja) (くそ, kuso)
• Lithuanian: prakeiktas m, prakeikta f
• Macedonian: проклет m (próklet)
• Polish: cholerny (pl) m, przeklęty (pl)
• Portuguese: maldito (pt), merda de, porra de
• Spanish: maldito (es), puto (es)
• Swedish: förbannad (sv), sabla (sv), djävla (sv), fördömd
• Turkish: kahrolasıca

Adverb

damn (not comparable)

1. (vulgar) Very, extremely.

   That car was going damn fast!

Translations

awfully, extremely

• Bulgarian: ужасно (bg) (užasno)
• Catalan: malaïdament
• Danish: pokkers, hulens, forbandet
• Finnish: pahuksen, samperin, saamarin, jumalattoman
• German: schrecklich (de), verdammt (de)
• Hungarian: átkozottul (hu)
• Italian: maledettamente (it), dannatamente (it), fottutamente

• Japanese: 糞 (ja) (くそ, kuso)
• Macedonian: проклето (prókleto)
• Polish: cholernie (pl)
• Portuguese: pra caralho (pt)
• Russian: черто́вски (ru) (čertóvski)
• Spanish: malditamente (es)
• Swedish: förbannat (sv), djävligt (sv)

Interjection

damn

1. (vulgar) Used to express anger, irritation, disappointment, annoyance, contempt, etc. See also dammit.

Synonyms

• For semantic relationships of this term, see dammit in the Thesaurus.

Derived terms

• dayum (slang, emphatic form)
• darn
• dizamn (slang, emphatic form)

Translations

non-vulgar expression of contempt etc.

• Arabic: اَللُّعْنَة‎‎ f (al-luʿna)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: cagondena
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 死 (sei²), 弊 (bai⁶), 頂, 顶 (ding²)

  Mandarin: 糟糕 (zh) (zāogāo), 該死 (zh), 该死 (zh) (gāisǐ), 你妹 (nǐmèi)

• Danish: pokkers, sørens, hulens
• Esperanto: damne
• Finnish: pahus (fi), hitto (fi), samperi (fi), saamari (fi)
• French: mince (fr)
• Georgian: ჯანდაბა (ǯandaba)
• German: verdammt (de), Mist (de)
• Hungarian: a fenébe (hu), a francba, a fene egye meg
• Indonesian: sialan (id), kampret (id), brengsek (id)
• Italian: accidenti (it), dannazione (it), cribbio (it), cavolo (it), mannaggia (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} しまった! (shimatta) ! 糞 , ^{(please verify)} くそ (kuso) (lit. shit), ^{(please verify)} 畜生！ (ja) (ちくしょう！, chikushō!) , ^{(please verify)} チェ！ (che) !
• Khmer: ឈឺក្បាលវិលមុខ (cʰɨɨ kbaal vɨl muk)

• Korean: 망할 (mang-hal) (damn it!)
• Lithuanian: velnias m
• Macedonian: по ѓаволите (po ǵavólite), проклетство (prókletstvo)
• Malay: hampas
• Maori: āhahā, aeha
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: لعنتی‎‎ (fa) (la'nati)
• Polish: cholera (pl)!, do diabła!, psiakrew (pl)!, kurde (pl) m, psiamać (pl) f, kuźwa f (expressive), do pioruna, holender (pl) m, kurna chata (pl), do licha
• Portuguese: porcaria (pt), maldição (pt), droga (pt), poça (pt)
• Russian: чёрт (ru) (čort) (devil), чёрт побери́ (ru) (čórt poberí), прокля́тие (ru) n (prokljátije), блин (ru) (blin)
• Serbo-Croatian: Kvragu (lit. to the devil)
• Spanish: maldición (es), maldita sea, diablos (es)
• Swedish: fan (sv)
• Thai: ห่าเอ้ย
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Noun

damn (plural damns)

1. The use of "damn" as a curse.

   said a few damns and left

2. (vulgar) A small, negligible quantity, being of little value.

   The new hires aren't worth a damn.

3. (vulgar) The smallest amount of concern or consideration.

   I don’t give a damn.

Translations

use of damn as a swear word

• Albanian: mallkoj (sq)
• Arabic: اَللُّعْنَة‎‎ (al-luʿna)
• Belarusian: праклён (práklon)
• Bulgarian: проклятие (bg) n (prokljatie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 糟糕 (zh) (zāogāo), 該死 (zh), 该死 (zh) (gāisǐ), 哎呀 (zh) (āiyā), 咳 (zh) (hāi)

• Czech: sakra (cs)
• Finnish: hitto (fi)
• French: merde (fr), putain (fr)

• German: ^{(please verify)} verdammt (de), (so ein) Mist!, ^{(please verify)} Scheiße! (de)
• Hindi: कोसना (hi) (kōsanā)
• Italian: maledizione (it) f
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} しまった (shimatta), ^{(please verify)} 糞 (ja), ^{(please verify)} くそ (kuso) (lit. shit), ^{(please verify)} 最低の (saitei-no)
• Lithuanian: prakeikimas m
• Portuguese: porcaria (pt) f, maldição (pt) f
• Romanian: (profane) la naiba!
• Russian: (devil) чёрт (ru) (čort), чёрт побери́ (ru) (čórt poberí), прокля́тие (ru) n (prokljátije), чёрт возьми́ (ru) (čórt vozʹmí)
• Spanish: maldito (es)

a small, negligible quantity, being of little value

• Italian: accidente (it) f

• Swedish: jota (sv) n, dugg (sv) n

the smallest amount of concern or consideration

• Italian: (un) tubo (it) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: (4) ^{(please verify)} fidiri
• Ido: ^{(please verify)} damnar (io)

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 呪う (ja) (のろう, norou)
• Spanish: maldecir, blasfemar

Anagrams

• MDNA, NMDA, mDNA, mand, nam'd