dysphemism
Feb. 22nd, 2010 07:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodworddysphemism (DIS-feh-mizm) - n., the substitution of disparaging, unpleasant, or offensive expression for a more neutral one.
The opposite of euphemism, and indeed coined in 1884 on its pattern by substituting Greek dys-, meaning mis-, for the eu-, meaning good -- the -phemism coming from Greek phēmē, speech, the stem form of phemi, I speak. Coined in addition to dysphemism are its synonyms cacophemism ("bad speech") and malphemism (also "bad speech" but mixing in Latin a root), neither of which caught on in the same way.
---L.
The opposite of euphemism, and indeed coined in 1884 on its pattern by substituting Greek dys-, meaning mis-, for the eu-, meaning good -- the -phemism coming from Greek phēmē, speech, the stem form of phemi, I speak. Coined in addition to dysphemism are its synonyms cacophemism ("bad speech") and malphemism (also "bad speech" but mixing in Latin a root), neither of which caught on in the same way.
---L.
