# curse
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kɜːs/
* (General American) IPA: /kɝs/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s

### Etymology 1

From Middle English curse, kors, cors, curs, from Old English cors, curs (“curse”), of unknown origin.

#### Noun

curse (plural curses)
* A supernatural detriment or hindrance; a bane.
    Synonyms: ban, hex, jinx, malediction
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Malachi 2:2:If ye will not heare, and if yee will not lay it to heart, to giue glory vnto my name, saith the Lord of hostes; I will euen send a curse vpon you, and will curse your blessings: yea, I haue cursed them already, because yee doe not lay it to heart.
** 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:Oh Portius, is there not some choſen Curſe, Some hidden Thunder in the Stores of Heav’n, Red with uncommon Wrath, to blaſt the Man Who owes his Greatneſs to his Country’s Ruin?
* A prayer or imprecation that harm may befall someone.
    Synonyms: anathema, malediction
* The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment.
    Synonyms: affliction, plague
** c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC,:The common curſe of mankinde, Folly and Ignorance […]
* A vulgar epithet.
    Synonyms: cussword, expletive; see also Thesaurus:swear word
** 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths. Consider for a moment the origins of almost any word we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself.
* (slang, dated, derogatory, usually with "the") A woman's menses.
    Synonyms: courses, period; see also Thesaurus:menstruation

##### Derived terms

* a blessing and a curse
* Assad curse
* blurse
* commentator's curse
* Corsican curse
* countercurse
* curseful
* cursefully
* Curselax
* curseless
* curselike
* curse of dimensionality
* curse of Scotland
* curse of the ninth
* curse tablet
* curse word
* curseworthy
* encurse
* generational curse
* not worth a curse
* not worth a tinker's curse
* Ondine's curse
* Paterson's curse
* Patterson's curse
* precurse
* tinker's curse
* Undine's curse
* winner's curse
* Zelenskyy curse

##### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: kosi

##### Translations

* This translation table is meant for translations approximating the derogatory or strongly negative nature of this term in English. For standard translations, see the translation table at menstruation.

### Etymology 2

From Middle English cursen, corsen, coursen, from Old English corsian, cursian (“to curse”), from the noun (see above).

#### Verb

curse (third-person singular simple present curses, present participle cursing, simple past and past participle cursed or (archaic) curst)
* (transitive) To place a curse upon (a person or object).
    Synonyms: bewitch, damn, ensorcell, maleficiate
    Antonym: bless
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 22:10–12:And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out. And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
** 1910, Emerson Hough, “A Lady in Company”, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […] ; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.
* To call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon; to imprecate evil upon; to execrate.
    Synonyms: comminate, execrate, imprecate
    Antonym: bless
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 22:28, column 1:Thou ſhalt not […] curſe the ruler of thy people.
* (transitive) To speak or shout a vulgar curse or epithet.
    Synonyms: swear; see also Thesaurus:swear
* (intransitive) To use offensive or morally inappropriate language.
    Synonym: swear
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 26:74, column 2:Then beganne hee to curſe and to ſweare […]
** 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], page 9, column 1:[…] his Spirits heare me, / And yet I needes muſt curſe.
* To bring great evil upon; to be the cause of serious harm or unhappiness to; to furnish with that which will be a cause of deep trouble; to afflict or injure grievously; to harass or torment.
    Synonyms: afflict, shaft, wreak
** 1712 May, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “The First Book of Statius his Thebais”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 29:On Impious Realms, and barb’rous Kings, impoſe / Thy Plagues, and curſe 'em with ſuch Sons as thoſe.

##### Derived terms

* accurse
* becurse
* better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness
* cursable
* cursee
* curse it
* curse like a pagan
* curse like a sailor
* curse like a trooper
* curse out
* curser
* forcurse
* outcurse
* uncurse

##### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: kosi

##### Translations
### Anagrams

* Cruse, Cures, Sucre, crues, cruse, cuers, cures, ecrus, sucre

## Latin
### Participle

curse
* vocative masculine singular of cursus

## Portuguese
### Verb

curse
* inflection of cursar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative

## Romanian
### Noun

curse f pl
* plural of cursă

## Spanish
### Verb

curse
* inflection of cursar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative