euphemism

English

Lord Voldemort,awizardso evil that manycharactersrefuse to call him by his propername,usingeuphemismssuch as "You-Know-Who"or" He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named ".

Etymology

Recorded since 1656; fromAncient Greekεὐφημισμός(euphēmismós),fromεὐφημίζω(euphēmízō),fromεὔφημος(eúphēmos,“uttering sound of good omen, abstaining from inauspicious words”),fromεὖ(eû,“well”)+φήμη(phḗmē,“a voice, a prophetic voice, rumor, talk”),fromφημί(phēmí,“to speak, say”).

Pronunciation

• enPR:yoo͞ʹfə-mĭz'əm;IPA^(key):/ˈjuː.fəˌmɪz.əm/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

Noun

Examples
fibforlie correctional facilityforprison(comparedysphemism:slammer) sleep withforhave sex(with)(comparedysphemisms:bang,fuck) pass awayfordie family planningforcontraceptives bullforbullshit

euphemism(countableanduncountable,pluraleuphemisms)

1. (uncountable)The use of a word or phrase to replace another with one that is considered lessoffensive,bluntorvulgarthan the word or phrase which it replaces.
   • a.1803,James Beattie,“Of Rhetorick”, inElements of Moral Science,volume III, Philadelphia: Hopkins and Earle, published1809,section I,page118:

     Akin to it [litotes] iseuphemism,which may be applied to the same purpose.

   • 2019July 26, David J. Ulin, “Op-Ed: I’m Jewish and I don’t say this lightly: ‘Never again’ is right now in America”, inLA Times‎^[1]:

     In 1946, George Orwell addressed the relationship of language to reality and suggested thateuphemism,not imperfect analogy, was the real danger. If we don’t use shocking language to describe a shocking circumstance, can we truly recognize what is happening?

2. (countable)A word or phrase that replaces another in this way.
   • a.1803,James Beattie,“Of Rhetorick”, inElements of Moral Science,volume III, Philadelphia: Hopkins and Earle, published1809,section I,page118:

     When it is said of the martyrSt. Stephen,that “he fell asleep,” instead of—he died, theeuphemismpartakes of the nature of metaphor, intimating a resemblance between sleep and the death of such a person.

   • 2004,George Carlin,“EUPHEMISMS: It's a Whole New Language”, inWhen Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?‎^[2],New York:Hyperion Books,→ISBN,→OCLC,→OL,page 6:

     Euphemistic language turns up in many areas of American life in a variety of situations. Not alleuphemismsare alike, but they have one thing in common: They obscure meaning rather than enhance it; they shade the truth.

Synonyms

• perfumed terms of the time(rare)

Antonyms

• dysphemism
• expletive

Hyponyms

• minced oath

Derived terms

• euphemism treadmill
• youthemism

Related terms

• euphemistic
• pseudonym

Translations

use of a word or phrase to replace another word with one considered less offensive

• Bulgarian:евфеми́зъмm(evfemízǎm)
• Catalan:eufemisme(ca)m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Ủy uyển ngữ／Ủy uyển ngữ(zh)(wěiwǎnyǔ),Uyển từ／Uyển từ(zh)(wǎncí),Uyển từ／Uyển từ(zh)(wǎncí)

• Czech:eufemismus(cs)m
• Danish:eufemisme(da)
• Dutch:verbloeming,eufemisme(nl)n
• Esperanto:eŭfemismo(eo),evitvorto,ĉirkaŭparolo
• Finnish:kiertoilmaus(fi),kiertoilmaisu(fi),eufemismi(fi)
• French:euphémisme(fr)m
• Galician:eufemismo(gl)m
• Georgian:ევფემიზმი(evpemizmi)
• German:Euphemismus(de)m
• Greek:ευφημισμός(el)m(effimismós)

  Ancient:εὐφημισμόςm(euphēmismós),ὑποκόρισμαn(hupokórisma)

• Hebrew:לָשׁוֹן נְקִיָּה(he)f(lashón n'qiyá)
• Hungarian:eufemizmus(hu)
• Indonesian:eufemisme(id)
• Italian:eufemismo(it)m
• Japanese:Uyển khúc pháp(えんきょくほう, enkyokuhō)
• Kazakh:эвфемизм(évfemizm)
• Korean:완곡어법(ko)(wan'gogeobeop),돌려말하기(dollyeo malhagi)
• Kyrgyz:эвфемизм(evfemizm)
• Latin:euphemismusm
• Latvian:eifēmisms(lv)f
• Macedonian:еуфеми́замm(eufemízam)
• Malay:bahasa halus(ms)
• Maori:kupu whakamauru
• Mongolian:цээрлэл(mn)(ceerlel)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:eufemisme(no)m,evfemisme(no)m

  Nynorsk:eufemismem,evfemismem

• Polish:eufemizacjaf
• Portuguese:eufemismo(pt)m
• Romanian:eufemism(ro)n
• Russian:эвфеми́зм(ru)(evfemízm)
• Slovak:eufemizmusm
• Spanish:eufemismo(es)m
• Swedish:eufemism(sv)c
• Tagalog:pahiman
• Tibetan:ཚིག་ངན་ཚབ་འཇམ་ཚིག(tshig ngan tshab 'jam tshig)
• Turkish:örtmece(tr),öfemizm
• Ukrainian:евфемі́зм(uk)m(evfemízm)
• Welsh:lledneisebf

word or phrase that is used to replace another in this way

• Armenian:մեղմասացություն(meġmasacʻutʻyun)
• Catalan:eufemisme(ca)m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Ủy uyển ngữ／Ủy uyển ngữ(zh)(wěiwǎnyǔ),Uyển từ／Uyển từ(zh)(wǎncí),Uyển từ／Uyển từ(zh)(wǎncí)

• Czech:eufemismus(cs)n
• Dutch:eufemisme(nl)n
• Esperanto:eŭfemismo(eo)
• Finnish:kiertoilmaus(fi),kiertoilmaisu(fi),eufemismi(fi)
• French:euphémisme(fr)m
• Galician:eufemismo(gl)m
• Georgian:ევფემიზმი(evpemizmi)
• German:Euphemismus(de)m
• Greek:ευφημισμός(el)m(effimismós)
• Icelandic:veigrunarorðn,fegrunarheitin,skrautyrðin,skrauthvörfn
• Italian:eufemismo(it)m
• Japanese:Uyển khúc biểu hiện(えんきょくひょうげん, enkyoku hyōgen)
• Kazakh:сыпайы сөз(sypaiy söz)
• Korean:완곡한표현(wan'gokhan pyohyeon),완곡어(wan'gogeo)
• Macedonian:еуфеми́замm(eufemízam)
• Mongolian:цээрлэл(mn)(ceerlel)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:eufemisme(no)m,evfemisme(no)m

  Nynorsk:eufemismem,evfemismem

• Polish:eufemizm(pl)m,melioratywm
• Portuguese:eufemismo(pt)m
• Romanian:eufemism(ro)n
• Russian:эвфеми́зм(ru)m(evfemízm)
• Spanish:eufemismo(es)m
• Swedish:eufemism(sv)c
• Tagalog:pahiman
• Tibetan:ཚིག་ངན་ཚབ་འཇམ་ཚིག(tshig ngan tshab 'jam tshig)
• Turkish:öfemizm
• Vietnamese:uyển ngữ(vi)(UyểnNgữ)
• Volapük:föemot
• Welsh:mwythair(cy)m,gair llednais(cy)m

Further reading

• euphemismon Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:English euphemisms
• Euphemismin theEncyclopædia Britannica(11th edition, 1911)
• “euphemism”,inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary,Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.
• “euphemism”,inThe Century Dictionary[…],New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,1911,→OCLC.
• “euphemism”,inOneLook Dictionary Search.