Spanish profanity

The Spanish language employs a wide range of swear words that vary between Spanish speaking nations, and in regions and subcultures of each nation. As in most languages swear words tend to come from semantic domains considered taboo such as the domains of human excretions, sexuality, and religion. As in most languages, In Spanish swearing serves several functions in discourse, as emphatic interjections expressing emotion, as expressions of interpersonal stances such as aggression or as expression of gender identity, and as forms of linguistic play.

Spanish insults are often of a sexual nature, taking the form of implying a lack of sexual decency if the insulted person is a woman (e.g. puta, ramera "whore", perra "bitch") or implying a lack of masculinity if the insulted person is male (e.g. maricón "faggot", puto "male prostitute", cabrón "male goat/cuckold"). A particularly forceful Spanish insult is any mention of someone else's mother, (called mentar la madre), including also in its strongest form insinuations or mentions of sexual relations (e.g. chinga tu madre! "fuck your mother!").