merda

Inherited from Old Catalan merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”). Compare Occitan mèrda, French merde, Spanish mierda.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈmɛr.də]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈmɛɾ.ða]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

merda f (plural merdes)

1. (slang, vulgar) dung, excrement, shit

• “merda”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• m*rda (censored)

From merdo +‎ -a.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmerda/
• Rhymes: -erda
• Syllabification: mer‧da

merda (accusative singular merdan, plural merdaj, accusative plural merdajn)

1. (vulgar, proscribed) shitty
   • 2009, “Fek al Esperanto!”, in Fek al Esperanto!‎^[1], performed by La Pafklik:

     Mi parolas pri merda lingvo
     Elpensita de stulta avo

     I'm talking about a shitty language
     Thought up by a stupid grandpa

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

merda

1. third-person singular past historic of merder

• damer, drame, marde

• miarda (regional: Goiáns)

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɾda/ [ˈmɛɾ.ð̞ɐ]
• Rhymes: -ɛɾda
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

merda f (plural merdas) (vulgar)

1. shit, dung, excrement

   Synonyms: bosta, caca, cagalla, cagallón, excremento, feces, frasca, zorollo

2. dirt

   Synonyms: cotra, porcallada, sucidade

3. (figuratively) crap (all senses)

   Synonyms: caca, porcallada, trapallada

merda!

1. (vulgar) shit!, rats!, crap!

   Synonym: corno

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “merda”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “merda”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “merda”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Italian merda, French merde, Spanish mierda, and Portuguese merda.

merda (plural merdas)

1. (vulgar) shit

• fece (“feces”)

• m*rda (censored)

Inherited from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛr.da/, ^*/ˈmɛr.da/
• Rhymes: -ɛrda
• Hyphenation: mèr‧da
• (Romanesco) IPA^(key): */mɛɾdä/

merda f (plural merde, diminutive merdìna or merdolìna, pejorative merdàccia (“shitty person”))

1. (vulgar, chiefly figurative) shit, crap (all senses).

   nella merda fino al collo ― in deep shit (literally, “neck-deep in shit”)

   Che gioco di merda... ― What a dogshit game... (literally, “What game of shit...”)

• merdaio
• merdoso
• smerdare

• nella merda fino al collo

• → Alemannic German: merde
• → Aromanian: merdu

merda

1. (vulgar) "fuck no!", shit!" (in response to something going wrong)

   Synonyms: cazzo, minchia, Cristo

   Near-synonyms: (none vulgar) porca miseria, dannazione, maledizione, mannaggia

   Merda, mi è caduto il portafogli! ― Shit [no], my wallet fell (out of my grasp!)

• -derma, derma, derma-, madre

Regional variants of merda

North Karelian (Viena)	merta
South Karelian (Tver)	merda

From Proto-Finnic *mërta. Cognates include Finnish merta and Veps merd.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmerdɑ/
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

merda (genitive merran, partitive merdua)

1. (South Karelian) fish trap

Tver Karelian declension of merda (type 4/kala rd-rr gradation)
	singular	plural
nominative	merda	merrat
genitive	merran	merroin
partitive	merdua	merdoida
illative	merdah	merdoih
inessive	merrašša	merroissa
elative	merrašta	merroista
adessive	merralla	merroilla
ablative	merralda	merroilda
translative	merrakši	merroiksi
essive	merdana	merdoina
comitative	merranke	merroinke
abessive	merratta	merroitta
prolative	merračči	merroičči
instructive	—	merroin

Possessive forms of merda
1st person	merdani
2nd person	merdaš
3rd person	merdah
*) Possessive forms are very rare for adjectives and only used in substantivised clauses.

• A. V. Punzhina (1994), “merda”, in Словарь карельского языка (тверские говоры) [Dictionary of the Karelian language (Tver dialects)], →ISBN
• Pertti Virtaranta; Raija Koponen (2009), “merta”, in Marja Torikka, editor, Karjalan kielen sanakirja‎^[2], Helsinki: Kotus, →ISSN

From Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-h₂- (“stench”), a collective formation from *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Proto-Slavic *smordъ (“stink, odor”) and its descendants, Latvian smards (“odor”), Proto-Balto-Slavic *smirˀdḗˀtei (“to stink”).^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛr.da]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛr.da]

merda f (genitive merdae); first declension

1. (slang, vulgar) dung, excrement, shit
   • 1st c. CE, anonymous graffito in Pompeii:

     Ut merdas edatis, qui scripseras sopionis

     You who have drawn pictures of penises, eat shit!

   • 1st c. CE, Martial, Epigrammata:

     Os et labra tibi lingit, Manneia, catellus: Non miror, merdas si libet esse cani.

     The pup licks your mouth and lips, Manneia. It doesn't surprise me if dogs like eating shit.

   • 1499, Erasmus, Letter to Faustus Andrelinus, lauded poet:

     Nos in Anglia nonnihil promovimus. […] Tu quoque, si sapis, huc advolabis. Quid ita te iuvat hominem tam nasutum inter merdas Gallicas consenescere?

     We have made some progress in England. […] You, too, if you're wise, will "fly" your way here. What pleases you, a man of such great wit, about growing old in French shit?

First-declension noun.

• *dismerdō

• “merda”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “merda”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "merda", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “merda”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Inherited from Latin merda, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɾda/
• Rhymes: -ɛɾda
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

merda f (uncountable)

1. (vulgar) shit; feces
   • 1255 July 10, Joham Suariz, “Carta de foro de Condudo”, in Hoc est registrum Donni Alfonsi […] , Lisbon, page 62; republished as Leontina Ventura, António Resende de Oliveira, editors, Chancelaria de D. Afonso III, volume I, number 1, Coimbra: UC, November 2006, →ISBN, page 46:

     […] e non peytedes senon quatro coomias a saber: en umezio rouso furto e merda en boca e isto seja provado per enquisa d'omees boos, de tres vilas de vosa friysia, e pectade por omezio dez maravidis, a meyadade pera mi e meyadade ao concelo, e por rouso e por merda en boca outro tanto, e furtu qual for achado tal peyte.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• Fala: merda
• Galician: merda
• Portuguese: merda

• Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2020–2026), “merda”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do português medieval [Historical and chronological vocabulary of Medieval Portuguese] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛr.da/
• Rhymes: -ɛrda
• Syllabification: mer‧da

merda

1. third-person singular present of merdać

• m*rda (censored)
• mrd (abbreviation)

From Old Galician-Portuguese merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɛʁdɐ, (Portugal, São Paulo) -ɛɾdɐ
• Hyphenation: mer‧da

merda f (plural merdas) (vulgar)

1. (uncountable) shit; faeces (excretory product evacuated from the bowels)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fezes

   • 17th century, Gregório de Matos, “A certo frade na Villa de Sam Francisco, a quem hua moça fingindose agradecida à seus repetidos galanteyos, lhe mandou em simulações de doce huma panella de merda”, in James Amado, compiler, Crônica do viver baiano seiscentista feita em verso pelo doutor Gregório de Matos e Guerra, Salvador: Janaína, published 1969:

     […] que havia a Moça mandar, senão merda com mais merda?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. a chunk of shit

   Synonyms: cocô, (rare) fez

3. (uncountable) shit (rubbish; worthless matter)
4. piece of shit (an object of poor quality)

   Synonyms: bosta, porcaria

   O teu trabalho é uma merda.

   Your work is shit!

   • 1963, Jorge Amado, Seara vermelha‎^[3], São Paulo: Martins, page 167:

     Hum! A cidade... Tem um aeroporto, tem um clube de dança onde jogam gamão, boas casas de comércio, em resumo é uma merda.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1990 October, Ricardo Soares, quoting Luiz Camargo Wolfmann, “Ricardo Soares entrevista Luiz Camargo Wolfmann”, in Trip‎^[4], São Paulo: Abril, page 9:

     Se você vai ver direito, sabe, esse quadro por quanto foi vendido. Você olha o quadro e fala: "Essa merda não vale nada". Essa merda foi vendida por 54 milhões de dólares.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (colloquial, usually uncountable) shit (nonsense; bullshit)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tolice

   falar merda ― to say bullshit (talk nonsense)

   • 1972, Cassandra Rios, Muros altos‎^[5], Rio de Janeiro: Distribuidora Record, page 193:

     […] garanto que nem se comoveu quando queimou as cartas, entretanto fica sofrendo por causa de uma Nanci que resolveu sair falando "merda" para todo o mundo...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1998, Fernanda Young, Carta para alguém bem perto‎^[6], São Paulo: Objetiva, →ISBN, page 19:

     Na família de Ariana, todas as mulheres morrem esclerosadas. Porque ninguém avisa às coitadas que elas estão falando merda, pensando merda e fedendo a merda.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

6. act of foolishness or stupidity

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tolice

   fazer merda ― to do something stupid, to fuck up

7. (colloquial) shit (anything) [with alguma or nenhuma]

   Synonyms: porra, bosta

   Fiquei aqui o dia todo e não fiz merda nenhuma.

   I stayed here all day long and didn't do shit.

8. (figuratively, colloquial) shit (problem or difficult situation)
9. (figuratively, colloquial) a state of misery or penury

   Synonyms: miséria, pobreza, necessidade, penúria

   Nós nunca conseguimos sair da merda.

   We never made it out of this misery.

merda m or f by sense (plural merdas)

1. (vulgar, derogatory) shit (a worthless or cowardly person; used particularly of men)

merda m or f (plural merdas)

1. (vulgar, informal) shit; shitty

   Synonym: de merda

   • 2023 October 19, BAKA, “QUE DIA MERDA” (0:28 from the start), in EMO NAS BAHAMAS‎^[7]:

     Fiz uma reza / pra essa novela / passar depressa / que dia merda

     I prayed / for this soap opera / to pass quickly / what a shitty day

merda! (vulgar)

1. shit! (expression of worry, failure, shock, etc.)

   Synonyms: bosta, caralho, (Brazil) cacete

   • 1978, Sérgio Faraco, Hombre: contos‎^[8], Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, page 84:

     Merda, nunca errei nessa distância.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (theater, slang) break a leg! (a superstitious expression of encouragement prior to a performance)
   • 2011, Stella Maris Rezende, A mocinha do Mercado Central, São Paulo: Globo, →ISBN, page unnumbeded:

     "O guardião" girou a maçaneta e entrou, com os braços dobrados para trás, mas fitando-a firmemente: / — Vim te desejar muita merda!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2023, Tuna Serzedello, O teatro que muda o mundo: experiências com teatro jovem, São Paulo: Peirópolis, unnumbered page:

     Boa leitura e merda!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “merda”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “merda”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026