History

The earliest known use of the word, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was as part of a
placename of a London street, Gropecunt Lane, c. 1230. Use of the word as a term of abuse is
relatively recent, dating from the late nineteenth century.[7] The word appears not to have been
taboo in the Middle Ages, but became taboo towards the end of the eighteenth century, and was
then not generally admissible in print until the latter part of the twentieth century.

Etymology
The etymology of cunt is a matter of debate,[8] but most sources consider the word to have
derived from a Germanic word (Proto-Germanic *kuntō, stem *kuntōn-), which appeared as
kunta in Old Norse. Scholars are uncertain of the origin of the Proto-Germanic form itself.[9]
There are cognates in most Germanic languages, such as the Swedish, Faroese and Nynorsk
kunta; West Frisian and Middle Low German kunte; Middle Dutch conte; Dutch kut (cunt) and
kont (butt); Middle Low German kutte; Middle High German kotze ("prostitute"); German kott,
and perhaps Old English cot. The etymology of the Proto-Germanic term is disputed. It may
have arisen by Grimm's law operating on the Proto-Indo-European root *gen/gon "create,
become" seen in gonads, genital, gamete, genetics, gene, or the Proto-Indo-European root
*gʷneh₂/guneh₂ "woman" (Greek: gunê, seen in gynaecology). Relationships to similar-sounding
words such as the Latin cunnus ("vulva"), and its derivatives French con, Spanish coño, and
Portuguese cona, or in Persian kos (‫) ُکس‬, have not been conclusively demonstrated. Other Latin
words related to cunnus are cuneus ("wedge") and its derivative cunēre ("to fasten with a
wedge", (figurative) "to squeeze in"), leading to English words such as cuneiform
("wedge-shaped"). In Middle English, cunt appeared with many spellings, such as coynte, cunte
and queynte, which did not always reflect the actual pronunciation of the word.

The word in its modern meaning is attested in Middle English. Proverbs of Hendyng, a
manuscript from some time before 1325, includes the advice:[10]

Ȝeue þi cunte to cunnig and craue affetir wedding.

(Give your cunt wisely and make [your] demands after the wedding.)

Offensiveness
Generally

The word cunt is generally regarded in English-speaking countries as unsuitable for normal
public discourse. It has been described as "the most heavily tabooed word of all English
words",[11][12] although John Ayto, editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Slang, says "nigger" is more
taboo.[13]
Feminist perspectives

Flyposting of the activist platform Courageous Cunts on an urban wall

Santa Cruz Women's March 2017

Some American feminists of the 1970s sought to eliminate disparaging terms for women,
including "bitch" and "cunt".[14] In the context of pornography, Catharine MacKinnon argued that
use of the word acts to reinforce a dehumanisation of women by reducing them to mere body
parts;[15] and in 1979 Andrea Dworkin described the word as reducing women to "the one
essential – 'cunt: our essence ... our offence'".[15]

Despite criticisms, there is a movement among feminists that seeks to reclaim cunt not only as
acceptable, but as an honorific, in much the same way that queer has been reappropriated by
LGBT people and nigger has been by some African-Americans.[16] Proponents include artist Tee
Corinne in The Cunt Coloring Book (1975); Eve Ensler in "Reclaiming Cunt" from The Vagina
Monologues (1996); and Inga Muscio in her book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence
(1998);[17].

Germaine Greer, the feminist writer and professor of English who once published a magazine
article entitled "Lady, Love Your Cunt" (anthologised in 1986),[18] discussed the origins, usage
and power of the word in the BBC series Balderdash and Piffle, explaining how her views had
developed over time. In the 1970s she had "championed" use of the word for the female
genitalia, thinking it "shouldn't be abusive"; she rejected the "proper" word vagina, a Latin name
meaning "sword-sheath" originally applied by male anatomists to all muscle coverings (see
synovial sheath) – not just because it refers only to the internal canal but also because of the
implication that the female body is "simply a receptacle for a weapon".[19] But in 2006, referring
to its use as a term of abuse, she said that, though used in some quarters as a term of affection,
it had become "the most offensive insult one man could throw at another"[20] and suggested that
the word was "sacred", and "a word of immense power, to be used sparingly".[6]

Usage: pre-twentieth century

Cunt has been attested in its anatomical meaning since at least the 13th century. While Francis
Grose's 1785 A Classical Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue listed the word as "C**T: a nasty
name for a nasty thing",[21] it did not appear in any major English dictionary from 1795 to 1961,
when it was included in Webster's Third New International Dictionary with the comment "usu.
considered obscene". Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1972, which
cites the word as having been in use from 1230 in what was supposedly a London street name
of "Gropecunte Lane". It was, however, also used before 1230, having been brought over by the
Anglo-Saxons, originally not an obscenity but rather an ordinary name for the vulva or vagina.
Gropecunt Lane was originally a street of prostitution, a red light district. It was normal in the
Middle Ages for streets to be named after the goods available for sale therein, hence the
prevalence in cities having a medieval history of names such as "Silver Street" and "Fish
Street". In some locations, the former name has been bowdlerised, as in the City of York, to the
more acceptable "Grape Lane".[22]

The somewhat similar word 'queynte' appears several times in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (c.
1390), in bawdy contexts, but since it is used openly, does not appear to have been considered
obscene at that time.[23] A notable use is from the "Miller's Tale": "Pryvely he caught her by the
queynte." The Wife of Bath also uses this term, "For certeyn, olde dotard, by your leave/You
shall have queynte right enough at eve .... What aileth you to grouche thus and groan?/Is it for
ye would have my queynte alone?" In modernised versions of these passages the word
"queynte" is usually translated simply as "cunt".[24][25] However, in Chaucer's usage there seems
to be an overlap between the words "cunt" and "quaint" (possibly derived from the Latin for
"known"). "Quaint" was probably pronounced in Middle English in much the same way as "cunt".
It is sometimes unclear whether the two words were thought of as distinct from one another.
Elsewhere in Chaucer's work the word queynte seems to be used with meaning comparable to
the modern "quaint" (curious or old-fashioned, but nevertheless appealing).[26] This ambiguity
was still being exploited by the 17th century; Andrew Marvell's ... then worms shall try / That
long preserved virginity, / And your quaint honour turn to dust, / And into ashes all my lust in To
His Coy Mistress depends on a pun on these two senses of "quaint".[27]

By Shakespeare's day, the word seems to have become obscene. Although Shakespeare does
not use the word explicitly (or with derogatory meaning) in his plays, he still uses wordplay to
sneak it in obliquely. In Act III, Scene 2, of Hamlet, as the castle's residents are settling in to
watch the play-within-the-play, Hamlet asks his girlfriend Ophelia, "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?"
Ophelia replies, "No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meant country
matters?" Then, to drive home the point that the accent is definitely on the first syllable of
country, Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs."[28] In
Twelfth Night (Act II, Scene V) the puritanical Malvolio believes he recognises his employer's
handwriting in an anonymous letter, commenting "There be her very Cs, her Us, and her Ts: and
thus makes she her great Ps", unwittingly punning on "cunt" and "piss",[29] and while it has also
been argued that the slang term "cut" is intended,[30] Pauline Kiernan writes that Shakespeare
ridicules "prissy puritanical party-poopers" by having "a Puritan spell out the word 'cunt' on a
public stage".[31] A related scene occurs in Henry V: when Katherine is learning English, she is
appalled at the "gros, et impudique" words "foot" and "gown", which her teacher has
mispronounced as "coun". It is usually argued that Shakespeare intends to suggest that she has
misheard "foot" as "foutre" (French, "fuck") and "coun" as "con" (French "cunt", also used to
mean "idiot").[32]

Similarly John Donne alludes to the obscene meaning of the word without being explicit in his
poem The Good-Morrow, referring to sucking on "country pleasures". The 1675 Restoration
comedy The Country Wife also features such word play, even in its title.[33]

By the 17th century a softer form of the word, "cunny", came into use. A well-known use of this
derivation can be found in the 25 October 1668 entry of the diary of Samuel Pepys. He was
discovered having an affair with Deborah Willet: he wrote that his wife "coming up suddenly, did
find me embracing the girl con [with] my hand sub [under] su [her] coats; and endeed I was with
my main [hand] in her cunny. I was at a wonderful loss upon it and the girl also ...."[34]

Cunny was probably derived from a pun on coney, meaning "rabbit", rather as pussy is
connected to the same term for a cat. (Philip Massinger (1583–1640): "A pox upon your
Christian cockatrices! They cry, like poulterers' wives, 'No money, no coney.'")[35] Because of this
slang use as a synonym for a taboo term, the word "coney", when it was used in its original
sense to refer to rabbits, came to be pronounced as /ˈkoʊni/ (rhymes with "phoney"), instead of
the original /ˈkʌni/ (rhymes with "honey"). Eventually the taboo association led to the word
"coney" becoming deprecated entirely and replaced by the word "rabbit".[36][37][38][39]

Robert Burns (1759–1796) used the word in his Merry Muses of Caledonia, a collection of
bawdy verses which he kept to himself and were not publicly available until the mid-1960s.[40] In
"Yon, Yon, Yon, Lassie", this couplet appears: "For ilka birss upon her cunt, Was worth a ryal
ransom"[41] ("For every hair upon her cunt was worth a royal ransom"[42]).

Usage: modern
As a term of abuse