cunt
(kʌnt)
[ME. cunte, count(e), corresponding to ON. kunta (Norw., Sw. dial. kunta, Da. dial. kunte), OFris., MLG., MDu. kunte:—Gmc. *kuntōn wk. fem.; ulterior relations uncertain.]
1. The female external genital organs. Cf. quaint n.
Its currency is restricted in the manner of other taboo-words: see the small-type note s.v. fuck v.
| [c 1230 in Ekwall Street-Names of City of London (1954) 165 Gropecuntelane.] a 1325 Prov. Hendyng (Camb. Gg. i. 1) st. 42 Yeue þi cunte to cunnig and craue affetir wedding. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 172/12 In wymmen þe necke of þe bladdre is schort, & is maad fast to the cunte. c 1425 Castle of Perseverance (1904) 1193 Mankynde, my leue lemman, I my cunte þou schalt crepe. 1552 Lyndesay Satyre Procl. 144 First lat me lok thy cunt, Syne lat me keip the key. a 1585 Polwart Flyting with Montgomerie (1910) 817 Kis þe cunt of ane kow. c 1650 in Hales & Furnivall Percy's Folio MS. (1867) 99 Vp start the Crabfish, & catcht her by the Cunt. 1743 Walpole Little Peggy in Corr. (1961) XXX. 309 Distended cunts with alum shall be braced. c 1800 Burns Merry Muses (1911) 66 For ilka hair upon her c—t, Was worth a royal ransom. c 1888–94 My Secret Life VII. 161, I sicken with desire, pine for unseen, unknown cunts. 1934 H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1935) 15 O Tania, where now is that warm cunt of yours? 1956 S. Beckett Malone Dies 24 His young wife had abandoned all hope of bringing him to heel, by means of her cunt, that trump card of young wives. |
| transf. and fig. a 1680 Ld. Rochester Poems on Several Occasions (1950) 28 Her Hand, her Foot, her very look's a Cunt. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 61 The grey sunken cunt of the world. 1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley xvi. 296 If your sister there comes ter me for a bit o' cunt an' tenderness, she knows what she's after. |
2. Applied to a person, esp. a woman, as a term of vulgar abuse.
| 1929 F. Manning Middle Parts of Fortune I. viii. 159 What's the cunt want to come down 'ere buggering us about for, 'aven't we done enough bloody work in th' week? 1932 ‘G. Orwell’ Coll. Essays (1968) I. 88 Tell him he's a cunt from me. 1934 H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1935) 28 Two cunts sail in—Americans. 1956 S. Beckett Malone Dies 99 They think they can confuse me... Proper cunts whoever they are. 1965 V. Henriques Face I Had 69 ‘What d'you think you're doing, you silly cunt?’ the driver shouts at her. |
3. Comb.
| 1680 Anon. in Rochester's Poems on Several Occasions (1950) 36 Fam'd through the World, for the C--nt-mending Trade. 1868 Index Expurgatorius of Martial 32 A satire on Baeticus, who was a priest of Cybele, and a cunt-sucker. 1891 Farmer Slang II. 230/2 Cunt-struck, enamoured of women. 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 97 Cunt-hat,..chapeau de feutre. 1965 F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon, ii. 28 We were all helplessly and hopelessly c...struck, a vulgar but forcibly accurate expression. |
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▸ cunt-struck adj. coarse slang infatuated, esp. sexually, with a woman or women in general (cf. love-struck adj.).
| 1876 Romance of Lust IV. 87 He..became in fact *cunt-struck upon her. 1879 Harlequin Prince Cherrytop 29 Changed from the gorgeous king to a buffoon, Be weak-kneed, cunt-struck, fucked-out Pantaloon. 1975 S. Bellow Humboldt's Gift 204 Were we to end our lives as cunt-struck doddering wooers left over from a Goldoni farce? 2003 London Rev. Bks. 21 Aug. 6/2 On the one hand, I was too inhibited; on the other, I was already terminally cunt-struck. |