In the UK, what does the emphatic term "bloody" mean? What is it's origin?

Question

When you say Bloody ....is it like using cuss words in America or anything like that? Thanks!

Does the term have anything to do with religion? I'm just curious. I see that it's used on television in both British and American shows so if it were like saying f***ing as someone answered I was suprised it would be used on TV.

Answer 1

it's like f**king xxx in America, yes..."bleeding" is also used as a swear word...i found a couple of explanations as to the origin of the word:

1) "Today's word bloody comes to us from Old English, where it was blodig. The Old English version comes ultimately from the Germanic *blotham, whose derivative *blothjan gaves us English bleed. German blut, Dutch bloed, and Swedish blod all come from *blotham, as well. Blood in the Romance languages comes from Latin sanguis (from which English gets sanguine), and the Greek word for blood was haima (English hemorrhage, hematoma, etc. come from the Greek source). As far as bloody being used as a chiefly British expletive, that dates from the 17th century. There is not a widely accepted explanation for its origin. One suggests that the word is a contraction of by our Lady, our Lady being Mary, the mother of God; another explanation is that the word became an `intensive,' as linguists call such words, by way of the nickname for Mary I of England, Bloody Mary."


2) "Bloody is the adjectival form of blood but may also be used as a swear word or expletive attributive (intensifier) in Britain, Ireland, South East Asia, Australia, Sri Lanka, and increasingly North America. Nowadays it is considered (by most of the population of these countries) to be a very mild expletive, and unlikely to cause offence in most circles.

Etymology
Some say it may be derived from the phrase "by Our Lady", a sacrilegious invocation of the Virgin Mary. The abbreviated form "By'r Lady" is common in Shakespeare's plays around the turn of the 17th century, and interestingly Jonathan Swift about 100 years later writes both "it grows by'r Lady cold" and "it was bloody hot walking to-day" [1] suggesting that a transition from one to the other could have been under way. Others regard this explanation as dubious. Eric Partridge, in Words, Words, Words (Methuen, 1933), describes this as "phonetically implausible". Geoffrey Hughes in Swearing: A social history of foul language, oaths and profanity in English (Blackwell, 1991), points out that "by my lady" is not an adjective whereas "bloody" is, and suggests that the slang use of the term started with "bloody drunk" meaning "fired up and ready for a fight".

Another theory is that it simply comes from a reference to blood, a view that Partridge prefers. However, this overlooks the considerable strength of social and religious pressure in past centuries to avoid profanity. This resulted in the appearance of words that in some cases appear to bear little relation to their source: "Crikey" for "Christ"; "Gee" for "Jesus"; "Heck" for "Hell"; "Gosh" for "God"; "dash", "dang" or "darn" for "damn"; "sprinkles" or "shoot" for "s**t"; "fick" or "fiddlesticks" for "f**k"; "witch" for "b*tch". These, too, might be considered implausible etymologies if looked at only from the point of view of phonetics. Given the context in which it is used, as well as the evidence of Swift's writing, the possibility that "bloody" is also a minced oath cannot be lightly dismissed. The suggestion that it originated as a reference to Jesus "bleeding" on the cross is compelling for its shock value, callousness and sacrilegious intent, just as the Irish, and those of the diaspora, will exclaim "suffering Jesus" in response to something shocking.

Although in the 1600s the word appeared to be relatively innocuous, after about 1750 the word assumed more profane connotations in the UK and Commonwealth. The use of bloody in adult UK broadcasting aroused controversy in the 1960s and 1970s but is now unremarkable (as can be seen by the fact that in the Harry Potter movies, which are geared toward children, the character Ron says "bloody hell" many times in all four movies).

The origins of the United Kingdom's objection to "bloody" may be in part due to the connotations of Bloody Mary, most commonly referring to Queen Mary I, a particularly divisive queen of England notorious for her violent suppression of anti-Catholic views."

actually it might be milder than f**king and that's why you hear it on films and tv

Answer 2

The word Bloody was linked to" Bloody Mary "The Daughter of King Henry the Vlll and Queen Catherine of Arragon his 1st wife. She murdered many priests in retaliation who supported the Christian Faith.Bloody Mary was a devout Catholic.She also sent many Christians to the Bloody Tower of London. They were also burnt at the stake as a Heretic, also some were executed.She executed Lady Jane Grey Who was Edwards Heir to the throne.Mary then Reigned as Queen but she lived a bitter and deprived life.She even had her Sister Princess Elizabeth arrested for Treason because she was a Christian. But she was released after swearing allegiance to Mary, on Marys Death, Elizabeth Received Succession to the Throne she became Queen Elizabeth l l .So the word bloody is comprehended as a swear word, generally speaking.
Bloody, Means to bleed, i.e.
This Bloody War, (1st world war)
Bloodied in Battle.

Answer 3

Bloody may be used as a swear word or expletive in Britain, Ireland, South East Asia, Australia, and increasingly North America. Nowadays it is considered (by most of the population of these countries) to be a very mild expletive, and unlikely to cause offence in most circles.

Possible Origin:
1. Some say it may be derived from the phrase "by Our Lady", a sacrilegious invocation of the Virgin Mary.
The abbreviated form "By'r Lady" is common in Shakespeare's plays.

2.Another theory is that it simply comes from a reference to blood.

3.The suggestion that it originated as a reference to Jesus "bleeding" on the cross is compelling for its shock value, callousness and sacriligeous intent.

"Bloody hell", often pronounced "Bloody 'ell", which can mean "Damn it", or be used as a general expression of surprise or as a general intensifier.

The word was christened "the Australian adjective" by The Bulletin Newspaper on 18 August 1894.

Answer 4

Many swear words derive from religious oaths. In this case, 'blessed' (2 syllables) was replaced by the then innocent 'bloody' because of the initial [bl] of the word. You can see it happening today: people often say 'Oh sugar' when they mean 'Oh sh*t' - same initial sound, but quite innocent. In Australia, you hear 'feckin' as a replacement for the obvious. Eventually, the replacement word becomes a swear word in its own right, so one day, you won't be able to ask for sugar in your tea, you'll have to request a sweetening agent.

Answer 5

I don't know it's original derivation, but it is probably a contraction of the phrase "Bloody Hell" no doubt referring to some religious text that describes "Hell" where life (or rather the lack of it) may well be described as living in a bloody environment. But I don't know for sure.

Answer 6

"bloody" is used as an adjective; it has roughly the same meaning as "damn(ed)" but is slightly more taboo. "I fell off my bloody bike"; "He's a bloody fool".
It is commonly made into an adverb by the addition of "-well": as in " " I bloody-well fell off mty bike". "If you want something done, bloody well do it yourself"

It is popularly said to be a corruption of an medieval oath "by Our Lady" - but that theory is now more or less discredited.

Answer 7

We say bloody in Australia too. It's a slang word. Another saying is bloody hell.

Answer 8

Yes, it is a modest swear word.

I suppose it just comes from blood, as in being wounded. It tends to go with soemthing going wrong, as in "What a bloody disaster" - you it could easily come from losing a battle.

Answer 9

Its a very mild swear word, almost a jokey type of word nowadays.

Answer 10

Thankyou everyone for all the answers