Term for gay in different languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of terms which are widely used today to refer to "gay" in different languages and which derive from concepts unrelated to homosexuality (e.g. the words "gay" or "pederast") or its common stereotypes. Their original meanings are also given.

Language	Term	Literal meaning	Style
Arabic	لوطي (lūŧī)	of Lot's people	derogatory & religious
Arabic	مثلي (miθli)	of the same	neutral
Arabic	منحرف (munħaraf)	queer/out of line	slightly derogatory
Cantonese	基佬 (gēi-lóu)	'basic' man (the Chinese character 基 (basic, pronounced: gēi) is phonetically similar to 'gay')	slightly derogatory
Chinese	同志 (tóngzhì)	comrade	neutral
Chinese	玻璃 (bōlī)	glass, crystal	derogatory
Czech	teplouš	warm	?
Danish	bøsse	gun	neutral
Dutch	nicht	niece	derogatory
Dutch	poot	leg	derogatory
Dutch	bruinridder	brown knight	derogatory
Dutch	flikker	?	very derogatory
Dutch	mietje	from sodomite	slightly derogatory
English	gay	joyous, cheery, bright, lively	neutral
English	queer	strange	slightly derogatory (but often embraced)
English	faggot, fag	burnt piece of wood (as cast out of Sodom)	derogatory
English	fruit	fruit	slightly derogatory
English	fairy	fairy	slightly derogatory (but more than fruit)
English	bufftie	?	derogatory (mostly used in Scotland)
Finnish	hintti, hinttari	?	derogatory
Finnish	hinuri	tower (as in a person who tows)	derogatory
Finnish	lepakko	bat	slightly derogatory; used for lesbians
French	folle	feminine of "fou"	derogatory
French	tante, tata	aunt, auntie	slightly derogatory
French	tantouze	augmentative of "tante"	derogatory
French	tapette	flyswatter	derogatory
French	pédé	pederast attractive lad	derogatory
French	gouine	"lesbienne" or dyke	derogatory
French	il en est	he's one of them	slightly derogatory
French (Quebec)	fifi, fif	stereotypical name for a poodle	derogatory
French (Quebec)	grande	same meaning as "folle"	derogatory
French (Quebec)	gai	gay	neutral
German	schwul	warm, hot (cf. schwül)	neutral
German	Schwuchtel	mock feminine of schwul	slightly derogatory
German	Tunte	(cf. "Tante"=aunt ?)	slightly derogatory
German	warmer Bruder	lit. warm brother	slightly derogatory, anachronism
German	geile Sau	lit. horny sow	slightly derogatory
Greek	σύκο (síko)	fig	slightly derogatory
Hungarian	buzi	sodomite (from German Buserant, originating indirectly from "Bulgarian" as "heretic")	derogatory
Hungarian	köcsög	jug, pitcher	derogatory
Hungarian	meleg	warm	neutral, PC
Irish	aerach	airy as "gay" (loan-translation from English)	neutral
IsiZulu	unqingili	?	derogatory
Italian	finocchio	fennel (a herb)	derogatory
Italian	frocio	old term for the Swiss Pope guards in Rome	derogatory
Italian	culattone	fat ass	derogatory
Japanese	ネコ (neko)	cat	slightly derogatory; used for effeminate men
Japanese	おかま (okama)	cooking pot	derogatory
Japanese	おなべ (onabe)	pot	derogatory; used for lesbians
Macedonian	пешкир (peškir)	towel	derogatory
Norwegian	rompis	play on the Norwegian word for comrade "kompis", rompis it therefore a friend of the ass	derogatory
Norwegian	skjev	crooked, as in not straight	neutral
Norwegian	traktorlesbe	Tractor lesbian, often referring to butch woman wearing manly workingclothes	derogatory
Polish	pedał	pedal	derogatory
Polish	ciota	aunt (augmentative)	derogatory
Polish	fajociąg	cocksucker	very derogatory
Polish	dupogrzmot	assfucker	very derogatory
Polish	cwel	male sex slave	very derogatory
Portuguese	frutinha, fruta	little fruit or fruit	slightly derogatory
Portuguese	mariquinha(s)	originally a diminutive for the name "Maria"	derogatory
Portuguese	bicha	beast	derogatory or neutral
Portuguese	morde-fronha	pillowcase biter	derogatory
Portuguese	paneleiro	-	highly derogatory (in Portugal)
Portuguese	boiola	used to designate delicate little boys, young lads working in theaters in the XIX century	derogatory (mostly used in Brazil)
Portuguese	rabeta, rabete	the one who likes (or has) buttocks/tail	derogatory (Portugal)
Portuguese	roto	leaking	derogatory (Portugal)
Portuguese	veado, veadinho	deer, little deer	neutral or derogatory (in Brazil)
Portuguese	queima-rosca	the one who has anal sex, who burns the doughnut	offensive
Romanian	poponar	derived from popou, meaning "tooshie"	derogatory
Romanian	curist	derived from cur, meaning "ass"	derogatory
Romanian	găozar	derived from găoază/găoz, meaning "ass hole"	derogatory
Russian	голубой (goluboy)	light blue	neutral
Slovene	toplovodar	anachronistic, literally "warm-water person"	derogatory
Spanish	marica, mariquita, maricón	alteration of "Mary"	derogatory
Spanish	sarasa	bad-life-woman	derogatory
Spanish	bujarrón	sodomite	derogatory
Spanish	loca, locaza	feminine form of crazy	derogatory
Spanish	mariposón	big butterfly	Mexico-derogatory
Spanish	muerdealmohadas	'pillow-biter'	derogatory
Spanish	jamaicón	from Jamaica	derogatory
Spanish	puñal	dagger	Mexico-highly derogatory
Spanish	puto	male prostitute	Mexico-highly derogatory
Spanish	joto	unknown origin	Mexico-highly derogatory
Spanish	de ambiente	from the scene	neutral
Spanish	entendido	we're in the know	neutral
Swedish	bög	crooked	formerly derogatory, now neutral
Swedish	fikus	ficus	derogatory
Swedish	stjärtgosse	ass boy	derogatory
Tagalog (Filipino)	bakla	unknown, but can also be used to describe things used by a male judged too effeminate	neutral or slightly derogatory depending on context
Turkish	top	ball	derogatory
Turkish	nonoş	old meaning: "cute, dear", now slang for effeminate gays	derogatory
Turkish	yumuşak	soft	derogatory
Turkish	ibne	?	derogatory
Turkish	kulampara	originally word from Persian, used for top gay men, particularly those who like younger persons	old, derogatory
Yiddish	פֿײגעלע (feygele)	"little bird" - a diminutive of bird (פֿויגל)	slighty derogatory