One Swear Word, Many Meanings || 14 Everyday Expressions with the word “Ca**o”!

A Guide to the Most Popular Italian Swear Word // Sound Like a Native!

Are you ready to dive into the fascinating realm of Italian swear words?

Of course you are!

Today, we’re putting the spotlight on a word that’s so versatile, it deserves a blog post of its own: “cazzo.”

From its literal translation to the wild array of ways it’s used in different situations, with just one swear word, you’ll be able to convey an infinite number of different meanings, and to insult things, people or situation in many different ways.

Although of course we hope you don’t use it too much!

Anyway, in this article you’ll learn about the many ways to use this Italian swear word, along with real-life usage examples.

How to use “Ca**o” || Cazzo!/Cazzo…

How to use “Ca**o” || Che cazzo…

How to use “Ca**o” || Stare sul cazzo (a qualcuno)

How to use “Ca**o” || …del cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Quel/questo un/una cazzo di x

How to use “Ca**o” || Col cazzo!

How to use “Ca**o” || Rompere il cazzo/Rompersi il cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Far girare il cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Testa di cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Non… un cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Farsi i cazzi propri

How to use “Ca**o” || A cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Grazie al cazzo

How to use “Ca**o” || Sono cazzi (amari)

BONUS || Derived Words

Italian Swear Words || FAQs

How to use “Ca**o” || Cazzo!/Cazzo…

By itself, depending on the tone, “cazzo” can be used as an exclamation to express anger but also surprise, shock, or admiration (somewhat like the English “damn” or “f*ck”).

How to use “Ca**o” || Che cazzo…

• “Che cazzo fai?” (What the f*ck are you doing?)
• “Che cazzo me ne frega?” (What the f*ck do I care?) (sometimes shortened by the concise expression “cazzo mene”)
• “Che cazzo è ‘sto casino?” (What the f*ck is this mess?)
• “Ma che cazzo ne so…” (What the f*ck do I know about that…)

Notice how, in all these sentences, the expression “che cazzo” takes the place that should be occupied by “che cosa”.

The function is of course to express anger or in any case to reinforce the meaning.

A less vulgar expression that can be used instead of “che cosa” is “che cavolo”.

“Cavolo” means “cabbage”, but it’s used as a non-vulgar alternative to “cazzo” as the two words share the first two letters.

So, if you’re just about to say “cazzo” in an inappropriate context, you can still save yourself after the first two letters, and change it to “cavolo”.

If you’ve gone too far and have already said “cazz…” you can still change to “cazzarola“.

How to use “Ca**o” || Stare sul cazzo (a qualcuno)

“Stare sul cazzo” (to be on the d!ck) means to be considered unpleasant or to be disliked by someone.

• Quello là mi sta sul cazzo. (I can’t stand that guy.)

Another Italian curse word you can use in the same way is “palle”.

• Quel suo atteggiamento mi sta proprio sulle palle. (That attitude of his is really getting on my nerves.)

Or, as usual, you can substitute “cazzo” with “cavolo”, and “palle” with “scatole”.

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How to use “Ca**o” || …del cazzo

You can add “del cazzo” to basically anything, to describe things that bother you (like when you use “f*cking” to describe something in English).

Let’s have look at some examples:

• Non posso uscire, devo studiare per quell’esame del cazzo… (I can’t go out, I have to study for that f*cking exam…)
• Ti prego, spegni quella televisione del cazzo. (Please turn off the f*cking television.)
• Questo telefono del cazzo è sempre scarico. (This f*cking phone is always dead.)

How to use “Ca**o” || Quel/questo un/una cazzo di x

The meaning is the same as the previous expression, which is to describe something in a negative sense.

• Non posso uscire, devo studiare per quel cazzo di esame… (I can’t go out, I have to study for that f*cking exam…)
• Ti prego, spegni quella cazzo di televisione. (Please turn off the f*cking television.)
• Questo cazzo di telefono è sempre scarico. (This f*cking phone is always dead.)
• Potevi fare una cazzo di telefonata quando sei arrivato a casa, mi fai incazzare quando fai così. (You could have given me a f*cking phone call when you got home, you p!ss me off when you do that.)

In these examples as well, you can replace “cazzo” with the more family friendly “cavolo.”

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How to use “Ca**o” || Col cazzo!

“Col cazzo” or “col cavolo” (literally “with the d!ck”) are used to express reluctance or total unwillingness to do something.

If you worked late today, without getting any recognition, you can comment with a work colleague (behind the boss’s back):

• “Col cazzo che lavoro fino a tardi la prossima volta!” (No f*cking way I’m working late next time!)

If you’re a resentful person, you can say:

“Col cazzo che gli faccio un favore, dopo quello che mi ha fatto”

No fucking way am I going to do him a favour after what he did to me.

How to use “Ca**o” || Rompere il cazzo/Rompersi il cazzo

“Rompere/il cazzo/le palle/i coglioni” (all equally vulgar, literally meaning “break the d!ck or balls”) all mean “to annoy“.

When instead of “rompere” the reflexive form “rompersi” is used, the meaning is “to have had enough” or “to be bored.”

• “Non cominciare a rompere il cazzo già di prima mattina.” (Don’t start bothering me already early in the morning.)

Another example…

“Mi sono rotto il cazzo, ogni volta è la stessa storia!”

Enough is enough, every time it’s the same story!

A family friendly alternative to this Italian swear word is “rompere le scatole.”

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How to use “Ca**o” || Far girare il cazzo

The meaning of this expression (literally “making the d!ck turn”) is similar to the previous expression:

“Questa storia mi ha fatto davvero girare il cazzo.”

This story really pissed me off.

How to use “Ca**o” || Testa di cazzo

“Testa di cazzo” is a very common Italian swear word / insult, meaning “dickhead“.

You’ll likely hear it often if you’re people-watching or wandering the streets of Italy!

How to use “Ca**o” || Non … un cazzo

You can use this structure with many verbs, meaning “absolutely nothing“.

• “Non capisci un cazzo!” (You don’t understand sh!t)
• “Non fai mai un cazzo!” (You never do sh!t)
• “Non si sente un cazzo!” (You can’t hear sh!t)
• “La batteria di sto telefono non dura un cazzo!” (This phone’s battery drains so f*cking fast)

The normal way to say these things would be “Non … niente”.

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How to use “Ca**o” || Farsi i cazzi propri

“Farsi i cazzi propri” (“doing one’s own d!cks”) means “minding one’s own business“.

• Fatti i cazzi tuoi! (Mind your own f*cking business!)

DID YOU KNOW || According to a famous Italian saying, “Chi si fa i cazzi suoi campa cent’anni”

This means “they who mind their own business will live for 100 years.”

How to use “Ca**o” || A cazzo

To do things “a cazzo” or even “a cazzo di cane” means to do things randomly or poorly.

While “a cazzo” is probably a distorsion of the neutral “a caso” (randomly), the origin of “a cazzo di cane” is not clear.

Here is a comic strip to describe this in more detail. How much can you understand?

Drop us a comment below if you have any questions 😍

How to use “Ca**o” || Grazie al cazzo

“Grazie al cazzo” (“Thanks to the d!ck”) is a colloquial expression with which Italians underline something that’s obvious, something that isn’t helping or something that doesn’t show someone’s merit.

Let’s look at some examples:

• A: “Marta a vent’anni ha già comprato casa” B: “Grazie al cazzo, i suoi hanno i milioni”. (A: “Marta at the age of 20 has already bought a house” B: “No sh!t, her parents are millionaires”)
• A: “Giovanni ha preso 10 nell’ultima verifica” B: “Grazie al cazzo, aveva i bigliettini” ( A: “John got a 10 on the last test” B: “No shit, he cheated”)
• A: “Non riesco a far funzionare ‘sta sveglia” B: “Leggi le istruzioni!” A: “Grazie al cazzo.” (A: “I can’t get this alarm clock to work” (with the instruction manual open on the table) B: “Read the instructions!” A: “No sh!t.”)

And one of our personal favourites…!

A: “Vero o falso?”
B: “Vero.”
A: “Sbagliato.”
B: “Falso”
A: “Grazie al cazzo!”

A: “True or false?” B: “True.” A: “Wrong.” B: “False.” A: “No sh!t”

In the last example, the meaning is very similar to the proverb “se non è zuppa è pan bagnato”, which we saw in a previous article.

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How to use “Ca**o” || Sono cazzi (amari)

This expression, literally meaning “there are bitter c*cks”, indicates that serious problems, unpleasant consequences are coming in the future.

In the Roman dialect, the expression becomes “e mo so’ cazzi”, and is very popular (not just in Rome).

• “Mio padre ha scoperto tutto! E mo so’ cazzi amari” (my father found out everything! We are f*cked.)

BONUS || Derived Words

In Italian, the dirty word “cazzo” has also given rise to many other curse words, all of which are used very frequently.

Incazzarsi means “to get p!ssed off”.

• Si è incazzato.
• Non farmi incazzare!

Cazzeggiare means “to mess around”, “to loaf about”.

• Invece di studiare, ha passato tutto il giorno a cazzeggiare.

Fancazzista means “lazy bum”. This word describes someone who enjoys sitting on the sofa doing absolutely nothing, or someone who only does the bare minimum.

Cazzata is used to describe a bad decision, a lie or something very easy. Here are some examples:

• Ho fatto una cazzata. (I screwed up)
• Non credere a tutto quello che leggi su internet, è pieno di cazzate. (Don’t believe everything you read on the internet, it’s full of bullsh!t)
• Vai tranquillo, quest’esame è una cazzata. (Don’t worry, this exam is super easy)

Cazzuto means “badass”.

• Vestito così sembri proprio cazzuto. (You look pretty badass dressed like that.)

So there you have it, the most versatile Italian swear word there is!

Whilst we hope you’ve learnt something new today we do not condone overly using cazzo 😅

But ultimately, as it plays a big part in Italian culture, it’s only right we teach you how it really is!

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Anymore Italian swear words we missed out? Drop us a comment below and share your favourites!

Italian Swear Words || FAQs

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