profanity
/pɹəʊˈfænəti/proh-FA-nuh-tee
/pɹoʊˈfænəti/proh-FA-nuh-tee
Meaningbeing profane
Common meaning: swearing
Other meanings: disrespect for holy things
- proforward; forth
- fana holy place, a shrineLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 725 · scan
- itynoun ending: being so, the quality of
‘forward’ + ‘a holy place, a shrine’ → profanity
Journey through time
- Latinfānum, -ī‘a holy place, a shrine’
- Frenchprofane
- Englishprofane‘not sacred’
- Englishformed in English from profaneprofanity‘swearing’ · today
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Formed in English from profane + -ity.
Dictionary: Skeat (1898), PROFANE, p.469 · scan
Roots
- fānum, -ī Latin “a holy place, a shrine”
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