filth

English

Etymology

From Middle English filth, from Old English fȳlþu, from Proto-West Germanic *fūliþu, equivalent to foul +‎ -th.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɪlθ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlθ

Noun

filth (usually uncountable, plural filths)

1. Dirt; foul matter; that which soils or defiles.

   Before we start cooking we need to clean up the filth in this kitchen.

2. Smut; that which sullies or defiles the moral character; corruption; pollution.

   He spends all his time watching filth on pornographic websites.

   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Excellency of the Christian Religion

     purifying our souls from the dross and filth of sensual delights

3. (Britain, derogatory, slang, with definite article) The police.

   We were in the middle of stashing the money when the filth arrived.

4. (derogatory, uncountable) A vile or disgusting person.
   • 1963, Charles Webb, The Graduate:

     I think you're scum, I think you're filth. And as far as Elaine's concerned you're to get her out of your filthy mind right now.

   • 2011, Jeremy Robert Hall, Summer Days:

     They were filth, utter filth. I mean, and this tops it. She even bought the video of her sister dying, or at least the sex act that killed her.

5. (US, agriculture, dated) Weeds growing on pasture land.

   Grampa remembers when he had to cut filth with a scythe.

Derived terms

• befilth
• filthen
• filthify
• filthy
• read someone to filth

 

Related terms

► English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *puH-‎ (0 c, 15 e)

Translations

dirt

• Albanian: papastërti (sq) f, fëlliqësi (sq) f
• Arabic: قَذَارَة‎ f (qaḏāra)
• Armenian: կեղտ (hy) (kełt)

  Old Armenian: կեղտ (kełt), գայռ (gayṙ)

• Azerbaijani: kir, çirk, palçıq (az), zığ (az)
• Belarusian: бруд m (brud), гразь f (hrazʹ)
• Bulgarian: мръсотия (bg) f (mrǎsotija)
• Burmese: အညစ်အကြေး (my) (a.nyaca.kre:)
• Catalan: immundícia, porqueria f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 污垢 (zh) (wūgòu), 穢物 (zh), 秽物 (zh) (huìwù), 污 (zh) (wū)

• Czech: špína (cs) f
• Estonian: mustus
• Finnish: lika (fi)
• French: crasse (fr) f, saleté (fr) f, boue (fr) f
• Galician: lixo m, sucidade (gl) f, porcallada f
• Georgian: ჭუჭყი (č̣uč̣q̇i)
• German: Schmutz (de) m, Dreck (de) m
• Greek: ακαθαρσία (el) f (akatharsía)

  Ancient: ῥύπος (rhúpos), ῤυπαρία f (ruparía)

• Hebrew: לִכלוּך‎ m (likhlúkh)
• Hindi: गंदगी (hi) f (gandgī), गंद (hi) m (gand)
• Hungarian: piszok (hu), mocsok (hu)
• Irish: garr m, mosar f
• Italian: sporco (it) m, sporca (it) f, sporchi (it) m pl, sporche (it) f pl
• Japanese: 泥 (ja) (どろ, doro), 汚物 (おぶつ, obutsu)
• Kazakh: былғаныш (bılğanış), лас (kk) (las)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 오물 (ko) (omul)
• Kyrgyz: кир (ky) (kir)

• Lao: ມົນທິນ (mon thin)
• Latin: sordēs f, paedor m
• Macedonian: нечистотија f (nečistotija)
• Maori: kerakera, hawahawa, karaweta, paraweta
• Navajo: chin, ih
• Norwegian: skitt m
• Occitan: immondícia f
• Old English: fylþ
• Persian: چرک‎ (fa) (čerk)
• Polish: brud (pl) m
• Portuguese: sujeira (pt) f, imundície (pt) f
• Romanian: murdărie (ro) f
• Russian: грязь (ru) f (grjazʹ), нечистота́ (ru) f (nečistotá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прљавштина f, нечистоћа f

  Roman: prljavština (sh) f, nečistoća (sh) f

• Slovak: špina f
• Slovene: umazanija (sl) f
• Spanish: mugre (es) f, porquería (es) f, inmundicia, bascosidad f, bahorrina (es) f (rare)
• Swedish: smuts (sv) c, lort (sv)
• Tajik: лой (tg) (loy), гил (tg) (gil), лоиқа (loyiqa), чирк (tg) (čirk), қарқ (qarq)
• Telugu: మురికి (te) (muriki)
• Thai: สิ่งปฏิกูล (sìng-bpà-dtì-guun)
• Tocharian B: krāke, * Tocharian B: tettinor
• Turkish: pislik (tr), kir (tr)
• Turkmen: hapalyk, kir
• Ukrainian: бруд (uk) m (brud)
• Urdu: گندگی‎ f (gandagī), گند‎ m (gand)
• Uzbek: balchiq (uz), loy (uz), botqoq (uz), kir (uz)
• Vietnamese: rác rưởi (vi), rác bẩn