It’s fair to say that Ukrainians like to swear, even in normal times. But now, with their country fighting off a Russian invasion, they might just rank as the sweariest people on Earth.
From the brave defenders of a Ukrainian island in the Black Sea telling a Russian warship to “Go fuck yourself!,” to an Odessa MP delivering a curt “Fuck you, Lavrov!” to the foreign minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin’s latest neo-imperialist adventure has already produced some pretty loud F-bombs. Even the road signs to Kiev have been changed to make sure the Russian invaders know where to get off.
But nowhere is the swearing angrier or more intense than on the battlefield videoclips posted on Telegram and Twitter: of burnt-out Russian convoys, of Russian troops being confronted by Ukrainian civilians, or of Russian rockets slamming into apartment blocks. The swear words come thick and fast, literally every other word.
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Treatises have been written on the glories of Slavic swearing and the difference between Russian (genitalia-focused) and Ukrainian (more copro-centric) swear words. Here, in no particular order, is a short glossary of Ukrainian and Russian slurs and profanities (the strongest ones tend to be shared by both languages) that might help you decipher the social media footage from Putin’s war.
Warning: Strong language ahead.
Suka (сука): Bitch. A common insult across various Slavic languages, including Russian and Ukrainian. There’s also a diminutive, “suchka,” used as a term of endearment.
Pizda (пизда): Cunt. Another core Slavic insult, although it has ancient Indo-European roots, if that helps.
Pizdets (пиздец): Shit. A derivative of “Pizda,” slightly less offensive. Can also be used to mean something like “clusterfuck,” or an irreparably fucked-up situation, like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Khuy (хуй): Cock. Khuy is arguably the bedrock of Russian profanity, most commonly used in the expression “Idi na khuy!” (Иди на хуй!) meaning “go fuck yourself!” That was what the defenders of Snake Island told the Russian warship demanding their surrender on the first day of the conflict.
Poshol na khuy (Пошёл на хуй): Fuck you! Another very popular, and rude, insult; usually accompanied by a special hand gesture (your right hand palm across the middle of the left arm).
Khuylo (хуйло): Dickhead. Often used with suka as an intensifier to form suka khuylo! What a fucking dickhead!
Putin khuylo! (Путин— хуйло): Putin is a dickhead! Began as a football chant, but quickly became the rallying cry of Ukrainian resistance after the Russian invasion of the Donbas in 2014.
PTN PNH (Путин, пошёл на хуй): Putin, go fuck yourself! Another anti-Putin message, seen scrawled in graffiti.
Kurva (курва): Whore, Shit: Milder Ukrainian swear word, thought to have come from the Polish.
Laino, Givno, Dermo (лайно, гівно, дерьмo): Shit. The Ukrainians have a lot of words for it.
Khokhol (хохол): From an old Cossack surname (remember Nikolai Gogol?) that the Russians use as a nasty ethnic slur against Ukrainians: such as “Go home to Chernobyl, Khokhol!” (The Ukrainians have similar slurs for Russians, including Katsap, or billy goat, referring to old Russian men with beards.)
Blyat’ (блять): Bitch, Fuck, Shit! Not the strongest but definitely the most common profanity heard in Ukraine battlefield videos, so if you only learn one Slavic swear word this should be it. Its success comes from its multifunctionality—other words can be added in front, e.g., suka blyat’—to form limitless new insults that mean whatever you want them to. The Daily Beast counted no fewer than 25 blyat’s in a two-minute clip showing the remains of a Russian convoy destroyed near the town of Bucha.
Yebat’ (ебать): To Fuck. Finally we get there! Most commonly used in the expression Yob tvoyu mat’ (Ёб твою мать): Fuck Your Mother! Or Vashu Mat’ (Bашу мать): Your mother, which is just the second half of its longer equivalent, and slightly less offensive.
Mat’ (мать): Mother. This is the Russian word for mother, not of itself an insult but so commonly combined with other profanities (see above) that linguists use matershchina, or just mat, as the umbrella term for profane language in Russian and Ukrainian. So, how’s your mat now?
—With thanks to Svitlana Haverstock for linguistic advice.
