bugger

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bougre, also bogre,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman bugre, also bougre, and Middle French bougre,^[4][5] from Medieval Latin Bulgarus (“a Bulgarian”).^{[4][3][6][7][8]} The Oxford dictionaries and Ayto route it through Middle Dutch buggere (“heretic”), itself from French.^{[9][10][11][12]} In French the word meant a heretic from 1172 (Old French bogre), a person guilty of buggery from the second half of the 13th century, a Bulgarian from the early 14th and a general term of abuse from the late 15th.^[4] The Latin name was given to a sect of heretics thought to have come from Bulgaria in the 11th century, probably the Bogomils,^[4][7][13] because the Bulgarians, as members of the Eastern Church, were counted heretics in the West;^[6][9][12] it was then extended to other heretics, above all the Albigenses of southern France.^[4][12][14] Compare Old Occitan bolgre and Italian buggerare (“to have anal intercourse with”).^[4] The Anglo-Norman noun, recorded from the early 13th century, already covered "Bulgar", "heretic" and "sodomite".^[5] The verb is from the noun,^[4][7][10] and the interjection from the verb or the noun.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A heretic: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, which names the bougre with the heretic and the apostate.^[4][2][7] Weekley quotes an Anglo-Norman letter of Archbishop Peckham to Queen Eleanor of 1283 with the word Anglo-Norman bugre.^[15]

Semantic evolution

The deprecated sexual practices that medieval churchmen attributed to dualist heretics such as the Bogomils and the Cathars, a charge common during the Albigensian Crusade, gave the word its sexual sense,^[4][9][14] already present in French in the 13th century^[4] and in English from 1540.^[4] Etymonline dates it to the 1550s^[7] and Merriam-Webster to 1555.^[6] The verb followed in 1560.^[4] The heretic sense became historical,^[4][10] while from the late 17th century the noun was a general term of abuse:^[4][9][12] the OED's first example is from 1694,^[4] and Green's Dictionary of Slang has it of a man, not necessarily with contempt, from 1719.^[13] The affectionate use (the poor bugger) is recorded from 1854,^[4] and Etymonline places "fellow, chap" in the mid-19th century, as British "low language".^[7] Something difficult to deal with was a bugger from 1873, and a nuisance from 1922.^[4] The verb was used in curses from 1779 (bugger it, I'll be buggered if…),^[4][10][13] meant to ruin or spoil from the early 1920s,^[7][13] and bugger off, go away, is recorded from 1922;^[7] the interjection appears in 1923.^[4] In Shetland and Renfrewshire to bugger was to use foul language.^[16] About 1900 the OED still considered the noun decent only as a legal term.^[13]

Timeline

• 1340 – a heretic, especially an Albigensian (now historical).^[4][2]
• 1540 – a person who commits anal intercourse.^[4]
• 1560 – verb, to commit buggery with.^[4] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1598.^[6]
• 1694 – a term of abuse for a person.^[4]
• 1779 – verb, in oaths expressing annoyance.^[4]
• 1854 – a familiar or affectionate term for a person or animal.^[4]
• 1873 – something difficult to do or manage.^[4]
• 1921 – verb, to make a mess of, ruin.^[13] Etymonline dates the sense to 1923.^[7]
• 1922 – a great nuisance, and the phrases not give a bugger (not to care at all) and bugger off (go away).^[4][7]
• 1923 – interjection expressing annoyance.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (offensive) A person who practises anal intercourse; a sodomite.^[17][6][4]
2. (slang) A person or thing regarded as unpleasant, contemptible or difficult: That hill is a bugger to cycle up.^[17][4]
3. (slang) A humorous or affectionate word for a person or an animal: the lucky bugger.^[17][4]
4. A thing, usually a small one.^[6]
5. bugger all: nothing at all.^[17]
6. play silly buggers: to fool about and waste time.^[17][4]
7. (historical) A heretic, especially one of the Albigenses.^[4][2][10]

Verb

1. (offensive) To practise anal intercourse with.^[17][6][4]
2. (slang) Used in curses to express annoyance or dismissal, like damn: Bugger the rain! or I'll be buggered if I pay for that.^[6][4][10]
3. (slang, chiefly British) To ruin, complicate or frustrate; often bugger up.^[17][13]
4. (slang) To tire out; to exhaust.^[17][6]
5. bugger off: (slang, chiefly British) to go away.^[6][7]

Interjection

1. (slang) Used to express annoyance or frustration.^[17][4]

Word family

• buggery
• bugger off
• bugger all

Related words

• Bulgar
• Bulgarian

Usage notes

A separate bugger, a person who plants hidden microphones, is formed from the verb bug and recorded from 1955.^[4][6][10] In American underworld slang of the 19th century a bugger was also a pickpocket, from another sense of bug.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins