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This article is about the word. For the bodily waste, see Feces. For the expulsion of feces,
see Defecation. For other uses, see Shit (disambiguation).
"S***" and "S**t" redirect here. For the derogatory term, see Slut.

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Shit is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means
to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. Shite is a common variant
in British and Irish English.[1] As a slang term, shit has many meanings, including: nonsense,
foolishness, something of little value or quality, trivial and usually boastful or inaccurate talk or a
contemptible person. It could also be used to refer to any other noun in general or as an expression
of annoyance, surprise or anger.
Etymology
The word is likely derived from Old English, having the nouns scite (dung, attested only in place
names) and scitte (diarrhoea) and the verb scītan (to defecate, attested only in bescītan, to cover
with excrement); eventually it morphed into Middle English schītte (excrement), schyt (diarrhoea)
and shiten (to defecate), and it is virtually certain that it was used in some form by
preliterate Germanic tribes at the time of the Roman Empire. The word may be further traced to
Proto-Germanic *skit-, and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *skheid- "cut, separate", the same root
believed to have become the word shed. The word has several cognates in modern Germanic
languages, such
as German Scheiße, Dutch schijt, Swedish skit, Icelandic skítur, Norwegian skitt etc. Ancient
Greek had 'skōr' (gen. 'skatos' hence 'scato-'), from Proto-Indo-European *sker-, which is likely
unrelated.[2]
Usage
The word shit (also shite in British and Hiberno-English[3]) is considered profanity and is usually
avoided in formal speech. Minced oath substitutes for the word shit in English include shoot,[4]
[5]
shucks,[6] sugar,[7] and the euphemistic backronym, Sugar, Honey, Ice(d) Tea.[8][9]
In the word's literal sense, it has a rather small range of common usages. An unspecified or
collective occurrence of feces is generally shit or some shit; a single deposit of feces is sometimes a
shit or a piece of shit; and to defecate is to shit or to take a shit. While it is common to speak of shit
as existing in a pile, a load, a hunk, and other quantities and configurations, such expressions
flourish most strongly in the figurative.
When uttered as an exclamation or interjection, shit may convey astonishment or a feeling of being
favorably impressed or disgusted. Similar utterances might be damn!, wow! or yuck!.
Piece of shit may also be used figuratively to describe a particularly loathsome individual, or an
object that is of poor quality ("this car is a piece of shit", often abbreviated to "P.O.S.").
One study published in 2017 argued that "shit studies" is a cross-disciplinary meta-field of rhetorical
inquiry about human communication and reasoning. The authors explained, "rhetorical studies has
theorized 'shit' in terms of the communication of transformation, style, and textual relations,"
particularly in relation to claims of expertise to topics such as "anti-semitism" and "wine-
tasting."[10] They conclude that bullshit speech is one-sided discourse that is difficult to penetrate
because it contains "ideological barriers to the expectation of mutuality," working to deflect critical
responses.
Vague noun
Shit can be used as a generic mass noun similar to stuff; for instance, This show is funny (as)
shit or This test is hard (as) shit, or That was stupid shit. These three usages (with funny, hard,
and stupid or another synonym of stupid) are heard most commonly in the United States. Using "as"
denotes a subtle change in the meaning of the expression; however, the overall intent is basically
the same.
In the expression Get your shit together! the word shit can refer either to one's wits or composure or
to one's things, gear, etc. He doesn't have his shit together means that his affairs are disordered,
reflecting not bad luck or forces beyond his control, but his personal shortcomings.
To shoot the shit is to have a friendly but pointless conversation, as in "Come by my place some
time and we'll shoot the shit."
A shithole is any unpleasant place to be, much like a hellhole. This usage originates from a
reference to a pit toilet.
A crock of shit is something (a situation, explanation, argument, etc.) that is nonsense or fabricated
as a deception or evasion; i.e. bullshit. Often abbreviated simply as crock. Example: "You expect me
to believe that ?? What a crock!"
The phrase built like a brick shithouse is used in the United States to compliment a curvaceous
woman, but in other English-speaking countries to compliment men with athletic physiques. [11] This
meaning originates from the observation that most shithouses are rather ramshackle affairs
constructed of plywood or scrap sheets of steel.
The shitter is a slang term for a toilet, and can be used like the phrase ... down the toilet to suggest
that something has been wasted. Example: "This CD player quit working one friggin' week after I
bought it, and I lost the receipt! Twenty bucks right down the shitter!"
Shit on a shingle is U.S. military slang for creamed chipped beef on toast. In po