"Fuck" and "cunt" in the OED

[Hari_Seldon]

I have the compact edition of the OED, based on the original version completed in 1928 IIRC. Both of the above words are simply skipped without comment. Can someone with access to recent editions tell me if they also omit them?

This question was motivated by the following entry in Partridge’s “Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern Enlglish”, © 1958, under the entry for “fk". "Fk shares with ct two distinctions: they are the only two SE [standard English] words excluded from all general and etymological dictionaries since C18 and the only two SE words that [with certain exceptions] still cannot be printed in full anywhere within the British Commonwealth of Nations." A similar remark occurs under the entry "ct”.

[Baron_Greenback]

@Hari Seldon

I have the compact edition of the OED, based on the original version completed in 1928 IIRC. Both of the above words are simply skipped without comment. Can someone with access to recent editions tell me if they also omit them?

They are both in the Second Edition. (1989)

[GorillaMan]

@Hari Seldon

…and the only two SE words that [with certain exceptions] still cannot be printed in full anywhere within the British Commonwealth of Nations…

And that bit is certainly not true now! I suspect the Lady Chatterly trial was the change?

[Chez_Guevara]

Not only are these words included in the OED but cunt was the subject of a 10 minute slot on the BBC programme Balderdash and Piffle.

This series seeks to establish the earliest written citations for a wide variety of words and, in so doing, incorporates the views of three luminaries from the higher echelons of the OED. Germaine Greer presented the short film like so:

More recently, Germaine Greer, who had previously published a magazine article entitled Lady, Love Your Cunt, discussed the origins, usage and power of the word in the BBC series Balderdash and Piffle, which examines the etymology of many English words and phrases, most especially those whose origins have limited written evidence (required to be included as citations in the Oxford English Dictionary).

[Mr.Slant]

They’re in there.
I was quite amused as a 13-yr-old kid in the local university library looking it the fuck up.
Incidentally, I seem to recall there was an early cite for a bishop or such doing a lot of it, which cotinued to amuse my 13-yr-old self.

[aldiboronti]

Fuck and cunt first appeared in the OED in 1972 .

The first reputable dictionary to include the words was Webster’s Third New International Dictionary in 1961.

[dtilque]

@aldiboronti

The first reputable dictionary to include the words was Webster’s Third New International Dictionary in 1961.

Only half true. Webster’s Third includes cunt but not fuck. As I understand it, the first general purpose English dictionary to include the latter was The American Heritage Dictionary in 1969. When the sky failed to fall on that dictionary, the other lexicographers added it to theirs. Web3 has it in the New Words Addenda :rolleyes: but it wasn’t added until some time after 1969.

BTW, Web3 also has shit and the “penis” definition of cock. These were not in the earlier Second Edition (1932). I don’t know if any other dictionary had them between the two.

[yelimS]

There’s nothing in the thesaurus, though. Which is an awful shame, nothing would beat learning to curse from the gentlemen at Oxford.

[aldiboronti]

@dtilque

Only half true. Webster’s Third includes cunt but not fuck. As I understand it, the first general purpose English dictionary to include the latter was The American Heritage Dictionary in 1969. When the sky failed to fall on that dictionary, the other lexicographers added it to theirs. Web3 has it in the New Words Addenda :rolleyes: but it wasn’t added until some time after 1969.

BTW, Web3 also has shit and the “penis” definition of cock. These were not in the earlier Second Edition (1932). I don’t know if any other dictionary had them between the two.

Thank you for the correction. As Webster’s 3rd included the one I assumed it would include the other. Assumptions are always perilous and especially unwelcome in replies in General Questions, so I do apologize to the OP.

An odd decision nevertheless, to include one and not the other, especially as the one they did include has always been considered the more ‘shocking’ of the two words.

[An_Gadai]

Do those any of those dictionaries use the example “How are ya ya cunt ya?”? It’s a standard enough greeting around here.

[AskNott]

What’s the word for the thrill a pubescent boy gets from looking up sexual words in the dic(k)tionary?

[JimOfAllTrades]

@AskNott

What’s the word for the thrill a pubescent boy gets from looking up sexual words in the dic(k)tionary?

Lexicographile?