Sentence:  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 <WSD>word</WSD> we have for bad language – "profanity", "curses", "oaths" and "swearing" itself. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (Q8171)The smallest unit of language that has a particular meaning and can be expressed by itself; the smallest (contrast "morpheme".)