feck
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
See also: féck
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Borrowed from Scots, aphetic form of effect.
Noun[edit]
feck (plural fecks)
- Effect, value; vigor.
- 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Abacus 2013, p. 64:
- some of which have earned a small academic following for their technical feck and for a pathos that was somehow both surreally abstract and CNS-rendingly melodramatic at the same time.
- 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, Abacus 2013, p. 64:
- (Scotland) The greater or larger part.
- a. 1786, Robert Burns, The Carle of Kellyburn Braes
- I hae been a devil the feck o' my life
- a. 1786, Robert Burns, The Carle of Kellyburn Braes
Derived terms[edit]
Verb[edit]
feck (third-person singular simple present fecks, present participle fecking, simple past and past participle fecked)
- (Ireland, slang) To throw.
- (Ireland, slang) To steal.
- (Ireland, slang, sometimes with off) To leave hastily.
- 1970, Tim Pat Coogan, The I.R.A.:
- As Charlie Murphy put it to me, 'When the bishops called down fire and brimstone not a man stirred but when Joe Christle fecked off half the shagging IRA followed him!'
Quotations[edit]
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:feck.
Etymology 2[edit]
Alteration of fuck.
Verb[edit]
feck (third-person singular simple present fecks, present participle fecking, simple past and past participle fecked)
- (euphemistic, chiefly Ireland) Fuck.
- 1995, Graham Linehan & al., "Good Luck, Father Ted", Father Ted Series 1, Episode 1, Channel Four:
- Father Jack Hackett: Tea? Feck!
...
Mrs. Doyle: I'll tell you what, Father. I'll pour a cup for ye anyway and y' can have it if ya want. Now... And what do you say to a cup?
Father Jack Hackett: Feck off, cup!
- Father Jack Hackett: Tea? Feck!
- 2004 May 29, “A real thorn in the side; Profile: Diarmuid Gavin”, in The Herald:
- It didn't stop him turning to a reporter, saying "feck it" and nipping out anyway to talk to friends.
- 2011 January 6, Erwin James, “One dangerous lady”, in Sydney Morning Herald:
- "My family were Irish," she says, "and the use of the word 'feck' was normal but, of course, as a child, I thought it was a swear word. My first day at Holycross I heard the nuns saying feckin' this and feckin' that and I thought, 'Oh my God, they're all swearing'
- 2011 January 6, “A year to look forward to”, in Galway Advertiser:
- the year gets off to a flying start when the words 'Oh feck' are uttered collectively by two million as the January wage sheets are handed out and the true realisation of the Budget kicks in
- 1995, Graham Linehan & al., "Good Luck, Father Ted", Father Ted Series 1, Episode 1, Channel Four:
Synonyms[edit]
- eff, frak, frig; see also Thesaurus:copulate or Thesaurus:copulate with
Scots[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Early Scots fek, aphetic form of Middle English effect, from Old French effect.
Noun[edit]
feck (plural fecks)
References[edit]
- “feck” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛk
- Rhymes:English/ɛk/1 syllable
- English terms borrowed from Scots
- English terms derived from Scots
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Scottish English
- English verbs
- Irish English
- English slang
- English terms with quotations
- English euphemisms
- Scots terms inherited from Early Scots
- Scots terms derived from Early Scots
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Old French
- Scots lemmas
- Scots nouns
- Scots terms with obsolete senses