Asshole
Pronunciation
Origin
Variation of earlier arsehole, from Middle English arshole, arcehoole, equivalent to ass + hole. Cognate with Norwegian rasshøl ("asshole"), Swedish arsle ("asshole"). Compare also German Arschloch ("asshole"). Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlier Old English earsþerl ("anus", literally arse thirl).
First recorded in Middle English, as ers hole (Glouc. Cath. Manuscript 19. No. I., dated 1379, cited after OED), ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker as Lanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.)
Slang figurative usage dates to the 20th century; it was used of an uninviting place (compare shithole) in the 1920s, and then of an anti-social or despicable person from at least the 1950s (Harvard Advocate 137, March 1954). It also also used appositionally (as in "You're an asshole moralist", T. Chamales, 1957).
Alternative forms
- arsehole UK, Australia, Newfoundland
- basshole bowdlerization
Full definition of asshole
Noun
asshole
(plural assholes)- (vulgar) The anus.
- 1954, Ira Wolfert, An act of love: a completely retold version of the novel, page 54:... his temper took charge of him. 'You talk as if you were born without an asshole,' he cried to Commander Semmes.
- (vulgar, pejorative) A jerk; an inappropriately or objectionably mean, inconsiderate, contemptible, obnoxious, intrusive, or rude person.
- 1965, Jan Cremer, I, Jan Cremer, page 78:He philosophised all day about Morandi, Klee, Mird and Picasso, and was such an asshole that he spelled 'cunt' with a 'd'."
Usage notes
Asshole is an American English form, the corresponding British English form is arsehole.
As a pejorative for persons, this term is less vulgar and intense than fucker.
While this term is not intrinsically gender-specific, it is primarily applied to men; gender-specific terms such as bitch are often used for women.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
- (a mean, inconsiderate, contemptible, obnoxious, intrusive, or rude person) dumbass