This article is part of a series on swearing. You can read more about the general topic in our root article on swearing. In this article, you can read more about profanities. Profanities are curse words related to religion. The other two common types are swears are related to the sex organs (e.g. vittu) and to excretion (e.g. paska).

In this article, every phrase includes mention of its approximate strength (strong – medium – mild), because each of these have several euphemisms that are milder swears than the original. There is also mention of the function of each phrase. Please note that these are to some extent simplifications.

1. Helvetti – Hell

A common word to be used in swears is helvetti aka hell. This swear word can be alleviated by using any of the following less aggressive alternatives: helkkari, helkatti, helkutti, helskutti, hiivatti or hemmetti.

2. Jumala Jumalauta Luoja – God

Jumala means “god”, and jumalauta is a pretty strong swear word. Jumaliste is a less strong version of jumalauta. The word luoja means “creator” and is a mild swear word.

3. Perkele – Devil

Everybody’s favorite swear word, especially when over accentuating the r: perrrrrkele! The curse word perkele has developed a symbolic status: it’s seen as a sign of Finnishness; part of the national stereotype, but not in a bad way. It gets linked with sisu: the strength to stoicly handle  any difficult situation with determination, tenacity and bravery.

Milder euphemisms for perkele are perkule, perhana, pentele and sometimes even perjantai.

4. Saatana – Satan

In addition to perkele in the previous section, we can also use saatana to mean the devil. Milder euphemisms of saatana include samperi, saakeli and saamari. There’s also the word piru, which I’m adding to the table below because it also means the devil.

“Ai saatana” is an interesting expression, as it can express among other things anger, disgust, surprise and admiration. I’ve labeled it as “surprise” below.

5. Hitto – Damn (Hiisi)

Hitto is a pretty milk swear word. It’s based on the word hiisi, which means some kind of scary mythical monster. As such, it’s not based on the Bible like the other words on this page: it goes back to other forms of worship Finns had before Christianity. It has meant an ancient place of worship (see Päivi’s comment below the article). Painu hiiteen means “go to hell”, hiisi vieköön means “may the devil take it”.

I’m adding hiivatti to this section, though it is unclear to me if this word is derived from helvetti or from hiisi.

That’s it for profanities! I hope you found this article useful!

Related posts:

Swearing in Finnish – Kiroilu Kirosanat Paska – Swear Words Related to Secretion Vittu – Swear Words Finnish Insults – Haukkumasanat