four-letter word
Americannoun
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any of a number of short words, usually of four letters, considered offensive or vulgar because of their reference to excrement or sex.
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any word, typically of four letters, that represents something forbidden, disliked, or regarded with extreme distaste.
In the dieter's vocabulary, “cake” is a four-letter word.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of four-letter word
First recorded in 1925–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Lull” is a four-letter word at most companies in 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026
That four-letter word should put them on notice, if this is a scam.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 10, 2025
"That's why golf is the worst four-letter word in the world," he joked afterwards.
From BBC • May 17, 2025
In Katherine Rundell’s collection of short essays, “Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures,” the answer begins with a four-letter word we should all do more of: care.
From Salon • Dec. 31, 2024
She willed herself to decipher them the way she would decipher an unfamiliar four-letter word, each symbol lined up one after another.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
