Japanese Swear Words and Insults

“CLASSY” JAPANESE SWEAR WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW SO YOU DON'T JUST SAY はい、わかりました WHEN SOMEONE INSULTS YOU

1. 馬鹿野郎
ばかやろう = Baka yarou: You idiot!

Yarou (野郎) in Japanese means “guy, bastard, fellow”. It's a common insult, not really obscene. Baka (馬鹿) means stupid.

2. この野郎!
こんやろう！ = Kono yarou / Kon yarou: You bastard!
Example: わからないか、このやろう！ = Don't you get it, you bastard!

3. 見えないかこのやろう！
Mienai ka, kono yarou! = Are you blind, you idiot!

4. こいつ！
Koitsu = This guy!

5. くそったれ = 糞っ垂れ = Kusottare = You piece of sh*t! You stinker!
Kuso (糞) in Japanese means “dung, sh*t”, and tare (垂れ) means hanging down, stuck on.

6. くそがき / くそ餓鬼 = Kusogaki = You brat!
Kuso is as above, and gaki means “child, brat”; kusogaki is the kind of kid who still wets the bed. Gaki comes from Buddhism: 餓鬼 is a “hungry ghost”, referring to children who eat anything.

7. 畜生 = ちくしょう = Chikushou! = Damn it!
In Sino-Vietnamese, 畜生 reads SÚC SINH (“beast”).

8. こんちくしょう！ = Kon chikushou! = You damned beast!
Same as “Kono”, but “Kon” is just a faster, slangier way of saying it.

9. カス！
Kasu! You scum!
Kasu (糟) literally means “dregs” in Japanese; for example 酒カス sake kasu means “sake lees”.

10. くず！
Kuzu! You trash!
Kuzu (屑) in Japanese means scraps of waste; for example 切り屑 kirikuzu means “sawdust”, the shavings from planing or turning.

11. オカマ！
Okama! (a slur for gay men)
This is a derogatory word for gay men. If people know your sexuality, they may target it even though there's nothing wrong with you.

12. 情けない！
Nasakenai! Pathetic!
This insult means you are pitiful, attacking your dignity. “Nasake” means “kindness, compassion”; “nasake-nai” refers to someone who receives no one's kindness, or who is very pitiful. The word can also be used in a positive sense to express sympathy for a tragic situation.
情けない奴 Nasakenai yatsu = Pathetic person / Pitiful loser
お前は情けない奴だね Omae wa nasakenai yatsu da ne = You're pathetic

13. 相手されない
Aite sarenai Nobody cares about you!
お前は相手されないよ Omae wa aite sarenai yo = Nobody's going to bother with you! This insult targets how pitiful you are. “Aite” means the other party, opponent, the person you're talking to; “aite sarenai” means no one treats you as someone worth talking to.

14. Telling someone to “drop dead”: the strongest
The strongest insult in Japanese is “Drop dead!” as below:
死ね Shine! / 死ねよ！Shineyo! / 死ねや！Shine ya! Drop dead!

Note that the harshest insult in American English is “Loser!” because American culture values individual achievement, so being a “loser” is a serious insult. Japanese culture is different: it values collectivism and harmony, so telling someone to “drop dead” means that person is truly hateful and not part of the group.

Japanese also has a word for “loser / failure”:
負け犬 Makeinu Loser, failure.
Makeinu means “beaten dog”, a dog that lost a fight and ran away. There is a Japanese saying 負け犬の遠吠え Makeinu no tooboe = “the distant howling of a beaten dog”: once beaten, it only dares to bark from afar instead of coming close.

Another way of saying “drop dead” is:
地獄に行け！ Jigoku ni ike! Go to hell!
Hell (JIGOKU) is something people threaten each other with all the time, though it isn't real. This kind of threat isn't very effective because people's ideas of right and wrong differ. If you threaten someone like that, they can threaten you right back.

See also:
Japanese Phrases for Communicating in Workshops and Factories
Keigo in Japanese Conversation