fottere

Forms

fottere (first-person singular present fótto, first-person singular past historic fottéi, past participle fottùto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old Italian also has the first-conjugation foctare (Lucca, 1349).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fŭttere, for classical Latin futuō (“to have sex with”).^[2][4][5][1] The word is panromance: French foutre, Occitan fotre, Catalan fotre, Spanish joder, Portuguese foder, Sardinian futtire and Romanian fute.^[4][6] DEI points out that the Spanish and Portuguese forms presuppose a form with a single ⟨t⟩.^[7]

The origin of the Latin verb is uncertain.^[2][8] De Vaan considers a link with the root of -fūtō (“to strike”), as in cōnfūtō, with an original noun meaning “a strike”, and he also reports a proposal tracing it to Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew- (“to pour”).^[9] Nocentini points to the common metaphor “strike” → “have sex”, as in Italian bussare and sbattere, and Wiktionary gives *bʰew- (“to hit”).^[4][1] DEI instead proposed a Mediterranean root for a protuberance, and Devoto a blend with battere.^[7][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is an anonymous Venetian poem of 1317.^[3] DELI cites foctare in a document from Lucca of 1349, and fottere in the 14th-century jester Dolcibene.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Tommaseo calls it an obscene word with examples from the 14th and 16th centuries, and the GDLI quotes it in the comic poets from Burchiello to Batacchi.^[11][12] The figurative sense “to cheat, swindle” is recorded from 1887, and “to steal” and the reflexive fottersene “not to give a damn” are now common in popular speech;^[2][13][7] DEI considers the latter a calque of French se foutre de.^[2][13][7] The prefixed sfottere “to tease, mock” (1891) and strafottente “insolent” (1856) have become ordinary, much less vulgar words.^[4]

Timeline

• 1317 – The verb appears in an anonymous Venetian poem.^[3]
• 1349 – Foctare is recorded in a document from Lucca.^[2]
• 1856 – Strafottente is recorded.^[4]
• 1887 – Petrocchi records the sense “to cheat”.^[2]
• 1891 – Sfottere is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (vulgar) To fuck, to have sex with someone; used without object, to have sex.^[5][14][1]
2. (figurative, vulgar) To cheat, swindle or do someone down: Quel socio lo ha fottuto alla grande.^[5][14][13]
3. (figurative, vulgar) To steal, swipe: Mi hanno fottuto la bici.^[5][14][15]

Word family

• fottuto
• fottersene
• sfottere
• sfottò
• strafottere
• strafottente
• strafottenza
• fottio

Related words

• fottersi
• Latin futuo
• French foutre

Usage notes

Fottersene means “not to give a damn”, and andare a farsi fottere “to go to hell”, also of things that go to ruin;^[5][8][15] va' a farti fottere! is an insult.^[5][8][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
4. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1701
8. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
13. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
14. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana