c-words

Noun

c-word (plural c-words)

1. (euphemistic) The word cunt, regarded as vulgar and a swear word.
   • The c-word (cunt) is delivered here with a kind of despairing calm, as if the cuntishness of the British c-words (cunts) was just a sad matter of fact.c. 2017, Stewart Lee, March of the Lemmings
2. (euphemistic) The word crap, often considered mildly vulgar.
3. (euphemistic) Less frequently, a word like cock or cock-sucker, camel-jockey, Chink, ching chong, or cracker, regarded as taboo or offensive.
4. Any word beginning with c that is not normally taboo but is considered (often humorously) to be so in the given context, like clitoris, condom, cancer, or communism.
   • Nor can federal AIDS educators bring themselves to mention the c word, condom, a strange reticence not shared by any other Western government except that of Catholic Ireland. The CDC has gone through bizarre contortions to avoid naming the, uh, latex device.1990 Jan., “Condom Conundrum: How the World is Selling Safe Sex”, in Mother Jones Magazine, page 42