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merde

French, noun

merde is spelled M-E-R-D-E (5 letters) and appears 170 times per million words in written French, the 476th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Merde is a French feminine noun meaning “turd, piece of feces, shit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, merdé is a different word: “past participle of merder”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Excrément de personne ou d’animal”.

What does merde mean in English?

interjection

  1. 1

    vulgarshit!, crap!

    Merde ! J'ai oublié mes clés !

  2. 2

    break a leg!

noun

  1. 1

    femininevulgarturd, piece of feces, shit

    J’ai marché dans une merde de chien.

  2. 2

    feminineshit (something undesirable or unwanted)

    J'en ai marre de ce petit morveux de merde !

  3. 3

    feminineshit (something of poor quality)

    Aïe, cette télé de merde !

  4. 4

    derogatoryfemininea dickhead, a fuckhead, a bastard

verb

as merdé
  1. 1

    past participle of merder

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Excrément de personne ou d’animal. 2. Chose sans valeur ; objet de mauvaise qualité. 3. Personne méprisable, sans valeur. 4. Situation inextricable.

interjection: 1. Exclamation de colère, d’irritation ou de surprise. 2. Vœu de bonne chance à un acteur de théâtre avant qu’il n’entre en scène. 3. Vœu de bonne chance à une personne avant qu’elle ne passe une épreuve (souhaiter bonne chance étant supposé porter malheur).

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

Forms of merde

  • m*rde alternative
  • mrd alternative
  • marde alternative Canada
  • merdes plural
  • merdée feminine
  • merdés masculine plural
  • merdées feminine plural
  • m

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to merde

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is merde in French?

merde appears 170 times per million words in written French.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after merde