In this article, we will go over some swear words and insults which include bodily functions: paska, kusi and perse. You can also check out our article on swearing in general.

We have a neutral article with vocabulary related to bodily fuctions. In this article, we will be diving straight into improper uses of these words.

1. How Offensive Are These Swears?

The difference between swear words like paska and profanities like saatana is quite large. Likewise, calling someone a kusipää (asshole, literally “pee head”) is much less strong than calling them huora (a whore). Generally, the swears related to bodily functions are much milder than the ones related to religion. This is in part due to the infatuation of small children with secretion.

2. Paska – Shit – Swear Words

Paska is one of the most commonly used swear words in Finnish, which can be translated as “shit” or “crap”. Inoffensive synonyms are kakka (poop) and uloste (excrement).

My translations in the table below are partly fairly literal and partly more liberal translations; depending on how understandable the translation would be. All of these phrases are very offensive.

3. Kusi – Piss – Swear Words

It’s a stretch to add kusi to this page, because it’s considered only mildly offensive. By itself it refers to actual urine. English doesn’t use piss as much in offensive contexts, but the Finnish kusi could be translated as fucking. You can use kusi to insult people, but it’s also used in some fairly normal colloquial phrases where it hardly is seen as a swear, but rather as bad manners.

4. Perse – Ass – Swear Words

The word perse isn’t used as much in Finnish as its translation ass in English. It is mostly used in two very common expressions: olla perseestä (to suck, e.g. koulu on perseestä) and laittaa perseeseen (to put it where the sun don’t shine, e.g. tunge se perseesees).