maledicta

English

Etymology

From Latin maledicta, plural of maledictum (“curse, insult”).

Noun

maledicta pl (plural only)

1. Profane or blasphemous language.
   • 2007, Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window Into Human Nature, page 340:

     We see this in the third commandment, in the popularity of hell, damn, God, and Jesus Christ, and in many of the terms for taboo language itself: profanity (that which is not sacred), blasphemy (literally "evil speech" but in practice disrespect toward a deity), and swearing, cursing, and oaths, which were originally secured by the invocation of a deity or one of his symbols, like the tabernacle, chalice, and wafer incongruously found in Catholic maledicta.

2. Taboo language of all kinds, including profanity, blasphemy, swearing, cursing, insults, hate speech, impolite language, etc.
   • 1977 October 30, Edith Herman, “*%&!$*&#-X!!!: Naughty Words — Reinhold Aman knows them all”, in Toledo Blade‎^[1]:

     For 11 years now, “day and night, every Saturday and Sunday,” Aman had devoted his life to what he calls maledicta, the scholarly study of profanity and insults.

   • 1987, John Solt, “Japanese Sexual Maledicta”, in Reinhold Aman, editor, The Best of Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression:

     Most foreigners believe that Japanese is sparse in maledicta, which is not true. However, they can be quite subtle at times and tend to bypass the square-heads conditioned to blunt ravings of the “up yours, shithead, motherfucker” variety.

   • 2022, Tara Lazar, Absurd Words, page 112:

     Other types of maledicta are jarns, nittles, and quimps.

Derived terms

• maledicta balloon

Anagrams

• lactamide

Latin

Noun

maledicta

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of maledictum