# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**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 15, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/81 "2009-12-15T18:05:14Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Pssst: you mean “aspirated”, not “voiced”. All those “d”-type consonants are voiced. :smack: You’re 100% right; I don’t know how I didn’t catch that my brain swapped the words. Voiced/unvoiced would be like ð versus θ in English. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/82 "2009-12-16T03:00:57Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > 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) You mean: the smeller’s the feller ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/83 "2009-12-16T08:17:43Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > _Pet_ and _péter_. Quebec nationalists who hold former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in imperfect esteem make much of his initials. There is also the wealth of expressions with péter, such as péter plus haut que son cul (to fart higher than one’s ass, i.e. to be stuck up); péter ses plombs, péter une coche (to lose your shit); péter au frette (to fart in the cold, i.e. for one’s efforts to come to naught); se péter les bretelles (to burst one’s suspenders, i.e. to burst with pride); contrepèterie (counterfarting, i.e. a spoonerism). There’s of course the general use of the word péter to mean to explode, to come to grief, or transitively meaning to smash (m’a te péter la yeule! I’m gonna break your face!) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/84 "2009-12-16T08:55:18Z")
A Thai proverb translates as “One’s own fart is fragrant.” ตดตัวเองหอม (Tod Tua Eng Horm) The first syllable (Tod) is “fart”. The “T” is unaspirated. ---
**Author:** ![yo\_han\_go](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yo_han_go/32/130_2.png) [@yo\_han\_go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yo_han_go)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/85 "2009-12-16T09:17:00Z")
Slovenian: to fart - prdeti a fart - prdec old fart - stari prdec ---
**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 16, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/86 "2009-12-16T17:08:16Z")
> [@Hyperelastic](#): > > You mean: the smeller’s the feller See also: He who smellt [sic] it dealt it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/87 "2009-12-16T22:49:56Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Quebec nationalists who hold former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in imperfect esteem make much of his initials. Our leaders in the 70s: Ti-pet and Ti-poil. Ironically enough they’re two of our greatest politicians ever, even if their views of Canada and Quebec’s future were vastly different. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/88 "2009-12-17T13:52:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In Thai, it’s “doot,” which by a curious coincidence is also slang for a gay male. I just saw this. (See my answer above.) Toot (gay male) rhymes, more or less, with English “toot”, while Tot (fart) rhymes, more or less, with English “tote”. Siam Sam might have conflated with _Toot_ meaning buttocks, but that is yet a third word (longer vowel, different tone.) Curiously, all three of these words begin with unaspirated “T”, sometimes transliterated “Dt”. Even ignoring tones, Thai has a plethora of easily confused vowels. And consonants like the unaspirated T or unaspirated P are hard for non-natives to distinguish. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/89 "2009-12-25T22:02:50Z")
I finally found it. The word in the KwaKuitl language for fart is _x[sup]w[/sup]ee glath_. One who farts is _x[sup]w[/sup]ee gla galth_, roughly pronounced “kwagulth” How do I know this? Two months ago, upon unveiling my restorative work on a newly purchased used yacht by a a local female artist wearing pocahontas style braids, she accidentally farted. Aware of the rumour that Indians were given names as a result of the first thing their mother sees upon exiting the wigwam after giving birth, I immediately suggested they name their yacht “Passing Wind”. Sort of a double entendre, don’t you think? To make it more subtle I asked a native friend to provide me the translation for “farter” in her native tongue. There are only two hundred speakers left of that language and it just so happened that her [mother](http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_author.php?id=5977) was an expert in the language . Rather serendipitous. Anyway, I still do not know whether my client has acted on my suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![Waffle\_Decider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Waffle\_Decider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waffle_Decider)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/90 "2009-12-25T23:54:09Z")
In Cantonese school boy slang, ‘to fry an egg’ (chau daan) can also mean ‘to fart’. I have no idea how that usage came about… ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/91 "2009-12-26T00:54:23Z")
Like “cutting the cheese”? I would presume the idea is based on the potentially offensive odor of the associated foodstuffs (perhaps specifically _rotten_ eggs). ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/92 "2009-12-26T01:50:59Z")
Indonesian: kentut, pronounced “ken-toot” ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/93 "2009-12-26T02:34:47Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > In (some parts) of Wales, fart is _pumff_. Close to the New High German word “Pumpen”. I just looked that up on Wikipedia, since I remember reading that “pumpernickel” meant “devil’s farts” in German. Probably just coincidence, as I don’t think there is much of a “pump” sound involved, though it is sort of a pumping action. ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/94 "2009-12-26T09:55:34Z")
Ok, a not so common Indian language, Kannada (It is represented in the wikipedia logo for chrissakes!) hoosu. I am kinda ashamed to say that I dont know the Hindi word, but I do know the Japanese one (Its onara as people have said before me) ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698/95 "2009-12-26T10:51:39Z")
Paad in Hindi Kusu in Tamil Vali in Malayalam [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foreign-language-dopers-what-is-your-word-for-fart/519698.md?page=4)