cazzo

See also: cazzò

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkat.t͡so/
• Rhymes: -attso
• Hyphenation: càz‧zo

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin. One possibility is from a contraction of Latin capitium (“small head”) (cf. also capezzo, capezza), or from Byzantine Greek ακάτιον (akátion, “main mast”). See also caspita.

Noun

cazzo m (plural cazzi, diminutive cazzétto or cazzettìno, pejorative cazzàccio, augmentative-derogatory cazzóne) (vulgar)

1. (vulgar) dick, cock, prick

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cazzo

   • 1526, Pietro Aretino, “Sonetto IV [Sonnet 4]” (chapter 4), in Sonetti lussuriosi [Lustful sonnets]‎^[1], lines 1–4; republished in Dubbî amorosi, altri dubbî e sonetti lussuriosi di Pietro Aretino, dedicati al clero‎^[2], Rome: Stamperia Vaticana, 1792, page 42:

     Questo cazzo vogl’io più ch’un tesoro!
     Questo è quel ben, che mi può far felice!
     Or questo si che è ben da Imperatrice!
     Questa gemma val più d’un pozzo d’oro!

     I want this dick more than a treasure! This is the possession that can make me happy! Now, this is a possession worthy of an empress! This gem is worth more than a wellful of gold!

   • early-mid- to mid-19^th century, Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, Le confidenze de le regazze, lines 5–8; republished as “Le confidenze de le regazze II”, in Marcello Teodonio, editor, Tutti i sonetti romaneschi di G. G. Belli, Rome, 1998:

     Quer coso disce che sse chiama uscello,
     oppuro cazzo, e ll’antri dua cojjoni.
     Io je fesce: «E cch’edè sto ggiucarello?
     E sti du’ pennolini a cche ssò bboni?».

     He said that thing is called a cock, or a dick; and the other two [are called] balls. I asked him: "What is this little toy? And what are these two pendants good for?"

   • 1928, Hertz De Benedetti, “Atto primo [First act]”, in Ifigonia in Culide‎^[3]:

     Il Sir di Corinto, dal nobile augello
     qual mai non fu visto più duro e più bello.
     Il sir di Corinto dall’agile pene
     terrore e ruina del fragile imene;
     il sir di Corinto dal cazzo peloso
     del cul rubicondo ognora goloso.

     The lord of Corinth, with his noble cock, such that never a harder or more beautiful one was ever seen. The lord of Corinth, with his swift penis, terror and ruin for the fragile hymen; the lord of Corinth, with his hairy dick, ever hungry for ruddy ass.

2. (un cazzo) shit (US), jackshit (US), sod all (UK), bugger all (UK)

   Synonyms: accidenti, cacchio, cavolo

   Non vale un cazzo.

   It's not worth shit, it's worth sod all.

   • 2013, Paolo Sorrentino, 00:21:49 from the start, in La grande bellezza, spoken by Talia Concept (Anita Kravos):

     Sono un'artista, non devo spiegare un cazzo.

     I'm an artist, I don't have to explain jackshit.

3. (in the plural, followed by a possessive pronoun, vulgar) business, affair

   Synonyms: affari, cacchi, cavoli

   Fatti i cazzi tuoi!

   Mind your own fucking business!

Interjection

cazzo

1. fuck!, shit! (expressing frustration, surprise, or anger)

   Synonyms: cacchio, cavolo, accidenti, merda

   Vada a bordo, cazzo!

   Get aboard, for fuck's sake!

2. used as an intensifier, often replacing cosa or che, similar to "what the fuck".

   Che cazzo vuoi?

   What the fuck do you want?

   Cazzo guardi?

   The fuck are you looking at?

3. good grief
4. my ass!

   Buongiorno un cazzo!

   Good morning my ass!

Derived terms

• cagacazzo, cacacazzo (“a person who is anal about something, overtly pedant”)
• cazzaro (“person who says a lot of insensate words”)
• cazzata (“bullshit”)
• cazzi e mazzi (“shit and whatnot”, literally “dicks and decks”)
• cazzo di
• cazzone (“very stupid person”)
• cazzotto
• cazzuto (“ballsy”)
• del cazzo
• grazie al cazzo (“no shit”)
• incazzarsi (“to get pissed”)
• stare sul cazzo
• sticazzi (“given fucks”)
• stocazzo (“these nuts”)
• testa di cazzo

 

Descendants

• → Esperanto: kaco
• → French: catze

Etymology 2

Verb

cazzo

1. first-person singular present indicative of cazzare

Anagrams

• cozza