puta

See also: puța, puță, püta, púta, pútà, пута, and pụta

English

Etymology

From Spanish puta.

Noun

puta (uncountable)

1. (vulgar, chiefly US Hispanic) A prostitute, whore, slut, bitch, etc.
   • 1988 February 12, Lawrence Bommer, “Extremeties/Talking With . . .”, in Chicago Reader‎^[1]:

     Mastrosimone's (antiheroine?) Marjorie lets in a man who quickly drops the small talk, slams her to the floor, and almost smothers her with a pillow as he commands her to say "thank you," "I love you," and "I am your puta."

   • 2005, Eric Bogosian, Wasted Beauty, page 63:

     And we told you, man, we have not seen your puta sister.

Anagrams

• APTU, Tupa, UATP, patu, tapu

Asturian

Etymology

From a Vulgar Latin *pūtta, of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from Latin *puta, female form of Latin putus (“teeny boy”), a hapax legomenon of dubious reading. Cognate with French pute, Spanish puta, Portuguese puta, Galician puta, Catalan puta, as well as Old Italian putta (“girl”).

Noun

puta f (plural putes)

1. whore (prostitute)

Catalan

Etymology

From a Vulgar Latin *pūtta, of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from Latin *puta, female form of Latin putus (“teeny boy”), a hapax legomenon of dubious reading. Cognate with French pute, Spanish puta, Portuguese puta, Galician puta, Asturian puta, as well as Old Italian putta (“girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈpu.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈpu.ta]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

puta f (plural putes)

1. (derogatory, vulgar) whore, slut
2. mischievous

Synonyms

• bagassa, barjaula, barram, folla fembra, meuca, prostituta

Derived terms

• fill de puta
• putada
• putejar
• putenc
• puteria

 

Related terms

• putana

Further reading

• “puta” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Cebuano

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish puta.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: pu‧ta

Noun

puta

1. (vulgar) prostitute
2. (derogatory, vulgar) slut; bitch

Synonyms

• (slut): bigaon, igat

Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish puta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈputa/, [ˈpu.t̪a]
• Hyphenation: pu‧ta

Noun

puta

1. (vulgar) prostitute
2. (vulgar) bitch (obnoxious person)

French

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Spanish puta. It appeared first in rap texts. Doublet of pute.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pu.ta/

Noun

puta f (plural putas)

1. (slang, derogatory, vulgar) bitch
   • 2019, Ninho (lyrics and music), “Maman ne le sait pas”, performed by Ninho:

     Dans la ville j’revends le cannabis, maman ne le sait pas
     J’recompte mes potes, tout près des haramistes, le canon d’vant la glace
     Les pneus qui crissent, on est revenus tirer sur ces fils de puta
     Et j’sais qu’Iblis veut pas m’voir m’en tirer, faut qu’j’m’éloigne de tout ça

     In the city I'm selling cannabis, mama don't know it
     I'm counting my buddies, close to the sinners, the gun in front of the mirror
     The tyres squealing, we're back to shoot those sons of bitches
     And I know Iblis don't want me to get away with it, I gotta get away from it all

2. (slang, derogatory, vulgar) whore
3. (slang, derogatory, vulgar) slut

Synonyms

• pute

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese puta, probably from a Vulgar Latin *pūtta, variant of *puta, female form of *puttus, putus (“boy”), which is however a hapax legomenon of dubious reading. Cognate with French pute, Catalan puta, Spanish puta, Portuguese puta, Asturian puta, as well as Old Italian putta (“girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈputa̝/

Noun

puta f (plural putas)

1. (vulgar, derogatory) whore

   Synonym: prostituta

2. (vulgar, derogatory) slut
   • 1459, Anselmo López Carreira (ed.), Fragmentos de notarios, doc. 164;

     Iten Costança de Riba davia diso porlo dito juramento que feito avya que lle oyra diser que disera a dita Costança Vasques que era huna puta que posera as cornas ao marido

     Item, Constanza de Ribadavia said, by that oath that she had done, that she heard that said Constanza Vázquez was a slut that had put horns on her husband

3. (vulgar, derogatory) bitch

Derived terms

• fillo de puta

Adjective

puta m or f (plural putas)

1. (vulgar) evil; inmoral
2. (vulgar) an intensifier used in a similar way as fucking, freaking or damn may be used in the USA. May mean "huge", "impressive" and/or "problematic" and can even be used in a good way, if the person is jealous

   Non puiden ir alá por causa dunha puta tormenta. ― I could not go there, because of a fucking storm.

   Tes unha puta sorte! ― You're so freaking lucky! / You're so freaking unlucky!

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “puta”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “puta”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “puta”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “puta”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “puta”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Interlingua

Etymology

From Spanish puta, and Portuguese puta, French pute, putain and Italian puttana.

Noun

puta (plural putas)

1. (vulgar) whore

Synonyms

• prostituta (“prostitute”)

Kabuverdianu

Etymology

From Portuguese puta.

Noun

puta

1. (slang) whore, slut, prostitute
2. (slang) bitch

Latin

Etymology 1

Imperative of putō (“think, consider, prune, trim”).

Alternative forms

• putà (early modern)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.taː/, [ˈpʊt̪äː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ta/, [ˈpuːt̪ä]

Verb

putā

1. second-person singular present active imperative of putō (“think!”)

Etymology 2

Lexicalisation of the above imperative that underwent iambic shortening.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ta/, [ˈpʊt̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ta/, [ˈpuːt̪ä]
• Note: the final vowel is lexicalised as short in this use.

Adverb

puta (not comparable)

1. suppose, for instance, namely

   Synonyms: ut puta, ecce puta, ecce, exemplī grātiā

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• puta: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ta/, [ˈpʊt̪ä]
• puta: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ta/, [ˈpuːt̪ä]
• putā: (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.taː/, [ˈpʊt̪äː]
• putā: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpu.ta/, [ˈpuːt̪ä]

Adjective

puta

1. inflection of putus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Adjective

putā

1. ablative feminine singular of putus

Lithuanian

Noun

puta f

1. foam

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈputa/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from East Central German or German Pute.

Noun

puta f

1. (female) turkey (bird)
2. turkey (meat)

Declension

Declension of puta

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	puta	puśe	puty
Genitive	puty	putowu	putow
Dative	puśe	putoma	putam
Accusative	putu	puśe	puty
Instrumental	putu	putoma	putami
Locative	puśe	putoma	putach

Synonyms

• truta
• turkawa

Etymology 2

Verb

puta

1. (dialectal) Alternative form of pyta

References

• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “puta”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Maori

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *puta. Compare Hawaiian puka.

Noun

puta

1. hole
2. anus

Verb

puta

1. to pass through and out
2. to graduate
3. to run off; to escape
4. to be born

Derived terms

• puta noa (“across”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• puten

Noun

puta f sg

1. definite feminine singular of pute

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

puta f sg

1. definite singular of pute

Old Spanish

Etymology

From a Vulgar Latin *pūtta, of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from Latin *puta, female form of Latin putus (“teeny boy”), a hapax legomenon of dubious reading.

Noun

puta f

1. whore

   Synonym: putaña

   • by 1325, Anonymous, Crónica de veinte Reyes , (ed. by Terrence A. Mannetter, 1995, Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies):

     llamar vos han fijo de puta, mas non fijo de traydor

     They shall call you son of a bitch, but not son of a traitor.

Descendants

• Spanish: puta

Papiamentu

Etymology

From Spanish puta and Portuguese puta and Kabuverdianu puta.

Noun

puta

1. (vulgar, slang) whore, slut, prostitute
2. (vulgar, slang) bitch

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• p*ta (censored)

Etymology

From a Vulgar Latin *pūtta, of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from Latin *puta, female form of Latin putus (“teeny boy”), a hapax legomenon of dubious reading. This etymology is supported by both María Moliner and Joan Coromines. Cognate with French pute, Catalan puta, Spanish puta, Galician puta, Asturian puta, as well as Old Italian putta (“girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpu.tɐ/

• Audio (Portugal, Oporto):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal):

  (file)

Adjective

puta

1. feminine singular of puto

Adjective

puta (feminine-only, feminine plural putas)

1. (vulgar, derogatory, of a girl or woman) slutty

   Synonym: (Portugal) badalhoca

Adjective

puta m or f (plural putas)

1. (Portugal and in some cities in Brazil, vulgar) an intensifier used in a similar way as fucking

   Synonyms: baita, merda

   Não pude ir lá porque estava uma puta de tempestade. ― I could not go there, because there was a huge fucking storm.

   Você tem uma puta de sorte. ― You're so fucking lucky.

Usage notes

Unlike merda, which can qualify both masculine and feminine words, puta can only be used with feminine words, e.g. one can say both a merda do sol (the fucking sun) and a merda da lua (the fucking moon), but only a puta da lua and not *a puta do sol.

Noun

puta f (plural putas)

1. (vulgar, derogatory) whore, hooker

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prostituta

2. (vulgar, derogatory) slut (promiscuous woman)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vadia

3. (vulgar, derogatory) bitch (a term of contempt towards women)

Descendants

• → Saramaccan: púta

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

puta m sg

1. genitive singular of put

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
puta	phuta
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

Genitive singular form of pȗt (“road, path, way”), but used in plural constructions as an alternative form of the adverb pȗt (“time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pǔːtaː/
• Hyphenation: pu‧ta

Adverb

pútā (Cyrillic spelling пу́та̄)

1. times (in combination with cardinals greater than or equal to two, and other words indicating quantity, specifying how many times has the action been repeated)

   dva puta ― twice

   pet puta ― five times

   nekoliko puta ― several times

   mnogo puta ― many times

   idućeg puta ― next time

   ovog puta ― this time

   svakog puta ― every time

2. times (indicating multiplication)

   dva puta dva ― two times two

Related terms

• (adverbial sense): pȗt

Etymology 2

From Old High German puttina.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pûta/
• Hyphenation: pu‧ta

Noun

pȕta f (Cyrillic spelling пу̏та)

1. (regional) wooden dish or plate (usually made by a cooper)

Declension

Declension of puta

	singular	plural
nominative	puta	pute
genitive	pute	puta
dative	puti	putama
accusative	putu	pute
vocative	puto	pute
locative	puti	putama
instrumental	putom	putama

Noun

puta (Cyrillic spelling пута)

1. inflection of puto:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/genitive/accusative/vocative plural

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish puta, from a Vulgar Latin *pūtta, of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from Latin *puta, female form of Latin putus (“teeny boy”), a hapax legomenon of dubious reading. This etymology is supported by both María Moliner and Joan Coromines. Cognate with French pute, Catalan puta, Portuguese puta, Galician puta, Asturian puta, as well as Old Italian putta (“girl”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈputa/ [ˈpu.t̪a]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uta
• Syllabification: pu‧ta

Noun

puta f (plural putas)

1. (derogatory, vulgar) whore, slut, prostitute

   Synonyms: golfa, maraca, prostituta, ramera

2. (derogatory, vulgar) bitch

   Synonym: zorra

Derived terms

• callarse como una puta
• casa de putas f
• chuloputas
• de puta madre
• encima de puta, poner la cama
• hija de puta
• hijo de puta m
• hijoputa m
• ir de putas
• la puta madre
• más puta que Rita
• me cago en la puta
• o follamos todos, o la puta al río
• puta de quinta
• puta madre
• puta que te parió
• putada f
• putañear (verb)
• puteada f
• putear (verb)
• puterío m
• puto m
• putón berbenero
• putona

 

Related terms

• putañear (verb)

 

Adjective

puta

1. feminine singular of puto

Descendants

• → Cebuano: puta
• → English: puta
• → Tagalog: puta

See also

• dejada f
• golfa f
• mujerzuela f
• ramera f
• tu madre f

Further reading

• “puto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16

Swedish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -²ʉːta

Verb

puta (present putar, preterite putade, supine putat, imperative puta)

1. to pout (one's lips)

   puta med läpparna

   pout one's lips

Conjugation

Conjugation of puta (weak)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	puta		—
Supine	putat		—
Imperative	puta		—
Imper. plural1	puten		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	putar	putade	—	—
Ind. plural1	puta	putade	—	—
Subjunctive2	pute	putade	—	—
	Participles
Present participle	putande
Past participle	putad
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• depota, shuta, fucha, pucha, putsa, putik, putek, putris, putragis, putspa — minced oath
• pota — colloquial

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish puta.

Pronunciation

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ˈputa/ [ˈpuː.t̪ɐ]
• Rhymes: -uta
• Syllabification: pu‧ta

Noun

puta (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜓᜆ)

1. prostitute

   Synonyms: pokpok, hostes, GRO, patutot, kalapati, kalapating mababa ang lipad, ibong mababa ang lipad, kaladkarin, (Batangas, Mindoro) pagerper, belyas, pampam, prosti, prostituta, balihanda, nagbebenta ng laman, balihantot

2. (derogatory, vulgar) term of abuse: bitch

Usage notes

• The Commission on the Filipino Language treats this as the neutral word for a prostitute, but the English term is often used in its place due to its roots as a Spanish vulgarity.

Derived terms

• anak ng puta
• putang ina
• putang ina mo

 

See also

• japayuki
• kabaretista

 

Interjection

puta (Baybayin spelling ᜉᜓᜆ)

1. (vulgar, derogatory, colloquial) said in dismay or discontent.

See also

• punyeta

 

Further reading

• “puta”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Anagrams

• tupa, upat, Tupa

Turkish

Noun

puta

1. dative singular of put