fug
/fʌɡ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/fɐɡ/
fug noun: a heavy, musty, stuffy, or unpleasant atmosphere, usually in a crowded or poorly ventilated area. Also the euphemistic form of fuck.
Noun (1)
fug (countable and uncountable, plural fugs)
- A heavy, musty, stuffy, or unpleasant atmosphere, usually in a crowded or poorly ventilated area.
- "Someone's been too much for you," remarks Bistow, seating himself in the most comfortable chair, as a consolation for the prevailing fug.1888, [Edward Frederic Benson], chapter I, in Sketches from Marlborough, Marlborough, Wiltshire: Cha[rle]s Perkins, the “Times” Office, →OCLC, page 16
- There was a blizzard on. The cold was something frightful. Made one quite thankful to get back to the fug, though as a rule I think the way these trains are overheated is something scandalous.1934 January 1, Agatha Christie, “The Evidence of Colonel Arbuthnot”, in Murder on the Orient Express (A Hercule Poirot Murder Mystery), New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, published 1960, →OCLC, part II...
- A state of chaos or confusion; a daze.
- There was a fug of fear in the room.2002, Chris Beckett, “Marcher”, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection, →ISBN
- Viewed from this perspective, the Victorian era reeks of a suffocating and bigoted complacency, and, no doubt, many white imperialists existed in a fug of self-righteous superiority.2006, Colin Kidd, The Forging of Races, →ISBN
Verb (1)
fug (third-person singular simple present fugs, present participle fugging, simple past and past participle fugged)
- To create a fug (“heavy, musty, stuffy, or unpleasant atmosphere”; etymology 1, noun sense 1) in (a place).
- Inside, the Golden Lion was fugged with the smoke of too many cigarettes and the unhappy sound of a darts team practising.2008, Antony Moore, The Swap, →ISBN, page 231
- I'd walked down, for maybe the last time, from my lodgings behind New Fish Street, through air already fugged with smoke from the morning fires.2012, Phil Rickman, The Heresy of Dr Dee, →ISBN
- To surround (someone or something) with a fug (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
- The air was warm and close and the late afternoon sun was fugging through grey clouds and making them light - still grey, but light, really light.2005, Craig Taylor, Light, →ISBN, page 74
- To put (someone or something) into a fug (“daze”; etymology 1, noun sense 2); to confuse, to daze.
- The adrenalin, though diminished, was still running through my veins; the red mist was lifting but my mind was fugged by this unfamiliar combination of hormones, slowly intermingling with indignity and contrition and the dawning of familiar, ignominious defeat.2011, Richard Herring, How Not to Grow Up!: A Coming of Age Memoir. Sort Of., →ISBN, pages 34–35
- To create a fug (etymology 1, noun sense 1).
- The hub, or nerve center, of the coach business was a big shed next to the stable. It smelled—no, it stank of—no, it fugged of—horses, leather, veterinary medicine, bad coal, brandy, and cheap cigars.2004 September 25, Terry Pratchett, “Bonfire”, in Going Postal (A Novel of Discworld; 33), New York, N.Y.: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 218
- The rich sewer gases fugged around her and she shook her head, trying to clear it.2013, Tom Pollock, The Glass Republic: The Skyscraper Throne, →ISBN
- Sometimes followed by up: to be surrounded by a fug (etymology 1, noun sense 1), for example, in an enclosed, stuffy place.
- Well, I like it a jolly sight better than fugging up in those carriages with all that gassing crowd of Garden Home fussers.1921, Everybody's Magazine, volume 44, page 38
- Come out and try it. After a few days with us you'll be just longing to get back and fug it in your submarine.1957, Neville Shute, On The Beach, page 214
Noun (2)
fug (plural fugs)
- Preceded by the: used as an intensifier.
- I don't know jes where the fug he think he is at.1961, Robert Gover, One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding, page 21
- How the fug does a thug like you know about any preacher?2013, Dan Ferullo, Monster Hill, →ISBN
- Something of little value.
- I didn't know what any of it meant and didn't give a fug either.2013, Anne Lazurko, Dollybird, →ISBN
- After a short pause, Jay proclaimed, "I don't give a fug what you wave in fronna me. I'm sticking to my story."2013, Dan Ferullo, Monster Hill, →ISBN
- A contemptible person.
- Look at those fugs!1942, Army and Navy Journal, volume 80, page 345
- You bein' there an' him bein' there an' you such a fug of a loser an' him such a fug of a winner […]2012, Elizabeth George, The Edge of Nowhere, →ISBN
Verb (2)
fug (third-person singular simple present fugs, present participle fugging, simple past and past participle fugged)
- Used to express displeasure about (someone or something).
- He knew he would never eat them; they were merely an added load in his pack. Aaah, fug this.1948, Norman Mailer, Naked Dead, page 692
- Scornfully the driver answered, "Fug you muthafug, you ain't gon drive this muthafuggin cah."1969, Seymour Blicker, Blues Chased a Rabbit, page 62
- To damage or destroy (something).
- Zit my fault the rotary fugged up and the new one's buggered?2007, Paul Mitchell, Dodging the Bull: Stories, →ISBN, page 51
- You mean like in Zola–because they were fugged up in their turn by their parents.2010, Julian Barnes, Metroland, →ISBN, page 39
- To copulate with (someone).
- All went well until girls started writing things like, 'I want to win a date with Tuli because I want him to fug me.'2014, Richie Unterberger, Urban Spacemen & Wayfaring Strangers, →ISBN
- Married, two children, doesn't let him fug her any more.2016, Julian Barnes, Metroland, →ISBN, page 10
Noun (3)
fug (plural fugs)
- A cigarette.
Also used as
fug is also the euphemistic form of fuck.
Examples of fug in a sentence
- Inside, though, the little café was warm and bright, with a comforting fug of tea and baked bread and cakes.2010, Benjamin Black [pseudonym; William John Banville], chapter 1, in Elegy for April […], New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:
- But now am in total fug about what to text Roxster about tonight, and whether I should tell him about the nits.2013, Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy, →ISBN, page 7:
- Her translations are dimmed over with a fug of late eighteenthcentury poetic diction, a striving for sublimity or for sentimental effect.2014, Robert Anthony Welch, The Cold of May Day Monday: An Approach to Irish Literary History, →ISBN:
- Somewhere in the fug of her mind she remembered how to close it and fetched the pole, slotting it into the mechanism above and beginning to turn the handles.2015, Kate Riordan, The Girl in the Photograph, →ISBN:
Forms of fug
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | fugs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | fugs |
| present participle | fugging |
| past participle | fugged |
| past | fugged |
Origin of fug
The origin of the noun is unknown; originally dialectal and school slang, it is possibly derived from or related to one of the following: * Fog (“thick cloud that forms near the ground”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Germanic *feukaną (“to blow; to be blown away”) and from Proto-Indo-European *pew-, *pewg-, *pow- (“to billow; to blow; to drift”). * Fogo (“(UK, slang) stench”), a variant of hogo (“strong, unpleasant smell”), from haut gout, haut-goût (“(archaic) slight taint of decay, particularly in wild game meat, that used to be considered desirable; (obsolete) piquant or strong flavour”), from French hautgoût, from haut (“high”) + goût (“taste”). * A back-formation from fuggy. * A blend of funk (“foul or unpleasant smell”) + fog. The verb is derived from the noun.
A variant of fuck.
A variant of fag (“(Australia, Ireland, UK) cigarette”).
Words formed from fug
Words that rhyme with fug
23 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about fug
- What does fug mean?
- Fug means a heavy, musty, stuffy, or unpleasant atmosphere, usually in a crowded or poorly ventilated area.
- How do you use fug in a sentence?
- Inside, though, the little café was warm and bright, with a comforting fug of tea and baked bread and cakes.
- What part of speech is fug?
- Fug can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce fug?
- Fug is pronounced /fʌɡ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of fug?
- The plural of fug is fugs.
Words near fug in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fug (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fug.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-fug.wav.
Cite this entry: “fug.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fug. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.