# merda
## Catalan
### Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”). Compare Occitan mèrda, French merde, Spanish mierda.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [ˈmɛr.də]
* IPA: (Valencia) [ˈmɛɾ.ða]
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

merda f (plural merdes)
* (slang, vulgar) dung, excrement, shit

#### Derived terms

* a tota merda
* cul i merda
* merda de bruixa
* merder
* merderada
* merdícola
* merdissaire
* merdisser
* merdós

### Further reading

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

## Esperanto
### Alternative forms

* m*rda (censored)

### Etymology

From merdo +‎ -a.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈmerda]
* Rhymes: -erda
* Hyphenation: mer‧da

### Adjective

merda (accusative singular merdan, plural merdaj, accusative plural merdajn)
* (vulgar, proscribed) shitty
** 2009, “Fek al Esperanto!”, in Fek al Esperanto!‎, performed by La Pafklik:Mi parolas pri merda lingvo Elpensita de stulta avoI'm talking about a shitty language Thought up by a stupid grandpa

## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Verb

merda
* third-person singular past historic of merder

### Anagrams

* damer, drame, marde

## Galician
### Alternative forms

* miarda (regional: Goiáns)

### Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛɾda/ [ˈmɛɾ.ð̞ɐ]
* Rhymes: -ɛɾda
* Hyphenation: mer‧da

### Noun

merda f (plural merdas) (vulgar)
* shit, dung, excrement
    Synonyms: bosta, caca, cagalla, cagallón, excremento, feces, frasca, zorollo
* dirt
    Synonyms: cotra, porcallada, sucidade
* (figuratively) crap (all senses)
    Synonyms: caca, porcallada, trapallada

#### Related terms

* enmerdar
* merdada
* merdalla
* merdán
* merdeiro
* merdento

### Interjection

merda!
* (vulgar) shit!, rats!, crap!
    Synonym: corno

### References

* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “merda”, 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), “merda”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “merda”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

## Interlingua
### Etymology

Italian merda, French merde, Spanish mierda, and Portuguese merda.

### Noun

merda (plural merdas)
* (vulgar) shit

#### Synonyms

* fece (“feces”)

## Italian
### Alternative forms

* m*rda (censored)

### Etymology

From Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛr.da/, $^*$/ˈmɛr.da/
* Rhymes: -ɛrda
* Hyphenation: mèr‧da
(Rome) IPA: */mɛɾdä/

### Noun

merda f (plural merde, diminutive merdìna or merdolìna, pejorative merdàccia (“shitty person”))
* (vulgar, slang, figurative) shit, crap (all senses)

#### Related terms

* merdaio
* merdoso

#### Descendants

* → Alemannic German: merde
* → Aromanian: merdu

### Anagrams

* -derma, derma, derma-, madre

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-h₂- (“stench”). Cognate to Proto-Slavic *smordъ (“stink, odor”) and its descendants, Latvian smards (“odor”), Lithuanian smirdėti.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmer.da/, [ˈmɛrd̪ä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈmer.da/, [ˈmɛrd̪ä]

### Noun

merda f (genitive merdae); first declension
* (slang, vulgar) dung, excrement, shit
** 1st c. CE, anonymous graffito in Pompeii:
    Ut merdas edatis, qui scripseras sopionisYou who have drawn pictures of penises, eat shit!
** 1st c. CE, Martial, Epigrammata :Os et labra tibi lingit, Manneia, catellus: Non miror, merdas si libet esse cani.The pup licks your mouth and lips, Manneia. It doesn't surprise me if dogs like eating shit.
** 1499, Erasmus, Letter to Faustus Andrelinus, lauded poet :Nos in Anglia nonnihil promovimus. […] Tu quoque, si sapis, huc advolabis. Quid ita te iuvat hominem tam nasutum inter merdas Gallicas consenescere?We have made some progress in England. […] You, too, if you're wise, will "fly" your way here. What pleases you, a man of such great wit, about growing old in French shit?

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* *dismerdō

#### Descendants

* Dalmatian:
** miarda
* Italo-Romance:
** Corsican: merda
** Italian: merda
*** → Alemannic German: merde
*** → Aromanian: merdu
** Sicilian: merda
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: merda, melda
* North Italian:
** Friulian: mierde
** Istriot: mierda
** Romansch: merda, miarda
** Venetan: merda
* Gallo-Romance:
** Old French: merde
*** Middle French: merde
**** French: merde, marde
*** Walloon: miere
* Occitano-Romance:
** Catalan: merda
** Occitan: mèrda
* Ibero-Romance:
** Aragonese: mierda
** Asturian: mierda
** Old Galician-Portuguese: merda
*** Fala: merda
*** Galician: merda
*** Portuguese: merda
** Old Spanish: mierda
*** Ladino: medra
*** Spanish: mierda

### References

* “merda”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “merda”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "merda", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* merda in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Old Galician-Portuguese
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin merda, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd-.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛɾda/
* Rhymes: -ɛɾda
* Hyphenation: mer‧da

### Noun

merda f (uncountable)
* (vulgar) shit; feces
** 1255 July 10, Joham Suariz, “Carta de foro de Condudo”, in Hoc est registrum Donni Alfonsi […] , Lisbon, page 62; republished as Leontina Ventura, António Resende de Oliveira, editors, Chancelaria de D. Afonso III, volume I, number 1, Coimbra: UC, 2006 November, →ISBN, page 46:[…] e non peytedes senon quatro coomias a saber: en umezio rouso furto e merda en boca e isto seja provado per enquisa d'omees boos, de tres vilas de vosa friysia, e pectade por omezio dez maravidis, a meyadade pera mi e meyadade ao concelo, e por rouso e por merda en boca outro tanto, e furtu qual for achado tal peyte.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* Fala: merda
* Galician: merda
* Portuguese: merda

### References

* Antônio Geraldo da Cunha (2020–2025) “merda”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do Português Medieval (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa

## Polish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛr.da/
* Rhymes: -ɛrda
* Syllabification: mer‧da

### Verb

merda
* third-person singular present of merdać

## Portuguese
### Alternative forms

* m*rda (censored)
* mrd (abbreviation)

### Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese merda, from Latin merda, from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/ [ˈmɛɦ.dɐ]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/ [ˈmɛɦ.dɐ]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /ˈmɛɾ.dɐ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈmɛʁ.dɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈmɛɻ.da/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈmɛɾ.dɐ/ [ˈmɛɾ.ðɐ]
* Audio (Portugal, Porto):(file)
* Rhymes: (Brazil) -ɛʁdɐ, (Portugal, São Paulo) -ɛɾdɐ
* Hyphenation: mer‧da

### Noun

merda f (plural merdas) (vulgar)
* (uncountable) shit; faeces (excretory product evacuated from the bowels)
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fezes
** 17th century, Gregório de Matos, “A certo frade na Villa de Sam Francisco, a quem hua moça fingindose agradecida à seus repetidos galanteyos, lhe mandou em simulações de doce huma panella de merda”, in James Amado, compiler, Crônica do viver baiano seiscentista feita em verso pelo doutor Gregório de Matos e Guerra, Salvador: Janaína, published 1969:[…] que havia a Moça mandar, senão merda com mais merda?(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* a chunk of shit
    Synonyms: cocô, (rare) fez
* (uncountable) shit (rubbish; worthless matter)
* piece of shit (an object of poor quality)
    Synonyms: bosta, porcaria
    O teu trabalho é uma merda.Your work is shit!
** 1963, Jorge Amado, Seara vermelha‎, São Paulo: Martins, page 167:Hum! A cidade... Tem um aeroporto, tem um clube de dança onde jogam gamão, boas casas de comércio, em resumo é uma merda.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1990 October, Ricardo Soares, quoting Luiz Camargo Wolfmann, “Ricardo Soares entrevista Luiz Camargo Wolfmann”, in Trip‎, São Paulo: Abril, page 9:Se você vai ver direito, sabe, esse quadro por quanto foi vendido. Você olha o quadro e fala: "Essa merda não vale nada". Essa merda foi vendida por 54 milhões de dólares.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* (colloquial, usually uncountable) shit (nonsense; bullshit)
** 1972, Cassandra Rios, Muros altos‎, Rio de Janeiro: Distribuidora Record, page 193:[…] garanto que nem se comoveu quando queimou as cartas, entretanto fica sofrendo por causa de uma Nanci que resolveu sair falando "merda" para todo o mundo...(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 1998, Fernanda Young, Carta para alguém bem perto‎, São Paulo: Objetiva, →ISBN, page 19:Na família de Ariana, todas as mulheres morrem esclerosadas. Porque ninguém avisa às coitadas que elas estão falando merda, pensando merda e fedendo a merda.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* (colloquial) shit (anything) [with alguma or nenhuma]
    Fiquei aqui o dia todo e não fiz merda nenhuma.I stayed here all day long and didn't do shit.
* (figuratively, colloquial) shit (problem or difficult situation)
* (figuratively, colloquial) a state of misery or penury
    Synonyms: miséria, pobreza, necessidade, penúria
    Nós nunca conseguimos sair da merda.We never made it out of this misery.

#### Derived terms

* merdimbuca
* merdinha
* monte de merda

### Noun

merda m or f by sense (plural merdas)
* (vulgar, derogatory) shit (a worthless or cowardly person; used particularly of men)

### Adjective

merda m or f (plural merdas)
* (vulgar, informal) shit; shitty
    Synonym: de merda
** 2023 October 19, BAKA, “QUE DIA MERDA” (0:28 from the start), in EMO NAS BAHAMAS‎:Fiz uma reza / pra essa novela / passar depressa / que dia merdaI prayed / for this soap opera / to pass quickly / what a shitty day

### Interjection

merda! (vulgar)
* shit! (expression of worry, failure, shock, etc.)
    Synonyms: bosta, caralho, (Brazil) cacete
** 1978, Sérgio Faraco, Hombre: contos‎, Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, page 84:Merda, nunca errei nessa distância.(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* (theater, slang) break a leg! (a superstitious expression of encouragement prior to a performance)
** 2011, Stella Maris Rezende, A mocinha do Mercado Central, São Paulo: Globo, →ISBN, page unnumbeded:"O guardião" girou a maçaneta e entrou, com os braços dobrados para trás, mas fitando-a firmemente: / — Vim te desejar muita merda!(please add an English translation of this quotation)
** 2023, Tuna Serzedello, O teatro que muda o mundo: experiências com teatro jovem, São Paulo: Peirópolis, unnumbered page:Boa leitura e merda!(please add an English translation of this quotation)