Esperanto Profanity - Types

Types

Esperanto distinguishes between profanity and obscenity (this distinction is not always made in English). Profanity in Esperanto is called sakro, after the older French sacre, and consists of what English speakers would call "oaths": religious or impious references used as interjections, or to excoriate the subject of the speaker's anger. According to Renato Corsetti, former president of the World Esperanto Association, sakro is "a word or phrase used to express one's indignation or anger or similar sentiment, not directly addressed to a particular person."

Obscenity in Esperanto is called maldeca or nedeca ("indecent"), triviala, ("vulgar, indelicate, low-class"), tabua ("taboo"), pika ("sharp, stinging") or malnobla ("ignoble"). These are the Esperanto words that refer to sexual acts and bodily functions in non-clinical ways.

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