# Foreign language Dopers--What is your word for "fart"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698 "2009-12-02T14:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/21 "2009-12-02T18:51:37Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > In Swedish it’s _fjärt_ or _fis_. A really loud one is a _brakfis_. Norwegian has the same, nouns, _fjert_ and _fis_, verbs, _fjerte_ and _fise_. Also _promp/prompe_. The dictionary claims there’s also _prupp_ and _pruppe_, but I’ve never heard it before so it must be wrong… _Den som fisen først ble var, det er fisens rette far._ ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/22 "2009-12-02T18:55:48Z")
Huh. I always assumed the Guv’s name in _Blazing Saddles_ was a reference to ptomaine poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/23 "2009-12-02T19:00:29Z")
Fun with Japanese: 言い出しっぺ (_iidashippe_): the one who calls attention to a fart is in fact the farter (the one who brings up a subject must be the first to act upon it) 透かしっ屁 (_sukashippe_): silent fart 寝っ屁 (_neppe_): farting while asleep 屁をひって尻窄め (_he o hitte shiri tsubame_): there’s no point squeezing your buttocks after you have farted (use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/24 "2009-12-02T19:11:13Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > Spanish accents vary in how they pronoun the letter d. It’s not exactly like the English pronunciation, but I wouldn’t say it’s completely missing in some accents, either. More like a th. I think Andalucia that has an accent that almost completely omits the d sound except at the beginning of words. No… it’s not variation in the pronunciation of the “d”. It’s just not pronouncing the “d” at all… No attempt… None, zero, zip, completely omitted. I’m from the Caribbean, and from when I was growing up, I remember Dominican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican natives using “peo” instead of “pedo”. Now that I’m older, I seldom get in a situation where I listen to other Spanish speakers talk about farts, but in the rare occasion they mention it, many of them omit the “d” too. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/25 "2009-12-02T19:14:28Z")
I want to add, “pedo” IS the correct word to use. Just mentioning that many people don’t use it. Judging by the online RAE’s lack of that word in their dictionary, I’ll go say that without the d, it is not accepted as a formal word. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/26 "2009-12-02T19:23:26Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I’m from the Caribbean, and from when I was growing up, I remember Dominican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican natives using “peo” instead of “pedo”. I have a Puerto Rican coworker, and she leaves out all kinds of letters sometimes, but mostly the “s” virtually all of the time. In the few regions of Mexican Spanish where I’ve heard “pedo” pronounced, the Spanish “d” is definitely vocalized. I vocalize it when I say it, but I’m a non-native speaker. In the north, you can greet a friend with, “¿Que pedo?, guey.” ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/27 "2009-12-02T19:37:58Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Come on, somewhere on the Dope there must be a Latin scholar… Surviving Roman texts have two: _crepitus_ for the usual noisy fart, _flatus_ for the SBD. However, both of these words are used in more general ways: \crepitus\ for any kind of rustling sound, \flatus\ for a general blowing/breathing, with _ventis_ - “of the wind” usually included when talking about butt-gas. So I’m guessing these words would fall under the “euphemism” category. In checking citations, I found this interesting quote from Suetonius’ Life of Claudius (32), which I’m sure Suetonius mentions only in as much as it ridicules this emperor: _Dicitur etiam meditatus edictum, quo veniam daret flatum crepitumque ventris in convivio emittendi, cum periclitatum quendam prae pudore ex continentia repperisset._ - “It is also said that he considered an edict by which he would allow all kinds of farting _flatum crepitumque ventis_ at table, since he found out that someone had, from modesty, put their life at risk because of such restraint.” ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/28 "2009-12-02T19:46:35Z")
…adding, the remark about Puerto Rican _pedo_ reminded me of a poem of Catullus (54), where he uses the word _peditum_ to mean fart; I think this is a _hapax legomena_ though… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/29 "2009-12-02T19:50:52Z")
> [@CJJ](#): > > Surviving Roman texts have two: _crepitus_ for the usual noisy fart, _flatus_ for the SBD. Behold the adventures of [Walter: Canis Inflatus](http://www.amazon.com/Walter-Canis-Inflatus-Farting-Latin-Language/dp/158394110X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259783057&sr=8-1) According to Wikipedia’s entry on [Latin Profanity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_profanity#P.C4.93dere:_fart): > [@](#): > > _ **Pēdere: fart** _ > > _Pēdō, pēdere, pepēdī (or pepidī), pēditum_ is the basic Latin word for fart. > > **Etymology** > > The word’s antiquity and membership in the core inherited vocabulary is made manifest by its reduplicating perfect stem. It is cognate with Greek πέρδομαι (_perdomai_), English _fart_, Bulgarian _prdi_, Polish _pierdzieć_, Russian пердеть (_perdet’_), Sanskrit _pardate_, and Avestan _pərəδaiti_, all of which mean the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/30 "2009-12-02T20:43:02Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > In Swedish it’s _fjärt_ or _fis_. A really loud one is a _brakfis_. Never heard of those two until this thread; around this house the noun is _prutt_ and the verb is _prutta_. (My Norstedt’s says _fjärt_ is the less vulgar of the two.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/31 "2009-12-02T22:08:50Z")
Danish is _prutte_, the infinitive being _at prutte_. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/32 "2009-12-02T22:40:48Z")
Dutch: to fart = een scheet laten (‘to let a fart’); ruften ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/33 "2009-12-02T22:50:19Z")
Hoist with his own petard, indeed. I’ll add the Korean “pongu,” and wonder if some languages use an onomatopoic, while others a word to describe the odor. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/34 "2009-12-02T22:57:17Z")
I just want to add that this is my favorite thread of the _ **year** _. It combines two of my favorite things: farts and learning! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/35 "2009-12-02T23:02:13Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > In Swedish it’s _fjärt_ or _fis_. A really loud one is a _brakfis_. Note to self: Never order the “continental brakfis” when staying in a Swedish hotel. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/36 "2009-12-03T01:12:36Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Note to self: Never order the “continental brakfis” when staying in a Swedish hotel. Bourbon out the nose! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/37 "2009-12-03T02:15:24Z")
Czech: “prd.” Ass is “prdel.” ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/38 "2009-12-03T03:23:03Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Fun with Japanese: However, the common word for fart is _onara_ ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/39 "2009-12-03T04:45:04Z")
When I me pedo, me pedo with all the letters, although I try to do it discreetely and not in polite company… in Spain, “ponerse/estar pedo” means “to get/be drunk,” I hadn’t encountered it as “high.” A “pedorro,” lit. a farter, is a loudmouthed ass. In Catalan it’s _pet_. This has led to things like my grandmother asking “why does the ass (bottom) of this plastic bottle say ‘fart’? Does the bottle lose gas? It was flat water, how does it fart?” We had to explain PET slowly. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/40 "2009-12-03T05:36:26Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Fun with Japanese: > > 言い出しっぺ (_iidashippe_): the one who calls attention to a fart is in fact the farter (the one who brings up a subject must be the first to act upon it) > > 透かしっ屁 (_sukashippe_): silent fart > > 寝っ屁 (_neppe_): farting while asleep > > 屁をひって尻窄め (_he o hitte shiri tsubame_): there’s no point squeezing your buttocks after you have farted (use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted) The single-character kanji 屁 (pronounced “heh”) means “fart”. However, the everyday word is spoken as おなら (“onara”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698.md?page=3)