bastard (W3)

The strange story of inventing the "bastard" in medieval Europe
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Today, "bastard" is used as an insult, or to describe children born to non-marital unions. Being born to unmarried parents is largely free of the kind of stigma and legal incapacities once attached to it in Western cultures, but it still has echoes of shame and sin. The disparagement of children born outside of marriage is often presumed to be a legacy of medieval Christian Europe, with its emphasis on compliance with Catholic marriage law.
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"BASTARD", sub. "a sweet Spanish wine"

"bastard", noun

• An illegitimate person. (baby, child, or adult)
• (informal) : A child that does not know his father.
• Previously used as a title. (as in William the Bastard).
• (vulgar referring to a man) A wrong-doer; a sod.
• (vulgar referring to a man) A contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude, or spiteful person. See asshole.
• (context, often, humorous) A man, a fellow. (as in lucky bastard, poor bastard)
• (informal) : A problem or situation extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.

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• bastard pimpernel
• bastard sugar
• bastardisation
• bastardise
• bastardised
• bastardization
• bastardize
• bastardized
• bastardly gullion
• bastards
• bastardsword
• bastardswords

BASTARD (1155)

bastar, bastarde, bastart; baistard (bastre ),

(pl. baustars)

[ FEW: 15/i,72a bastardus; Gdf: 1,593b bastard 1; GdfC: 8,300b bastart; TL: 1,863 bastart; DEAF: bastart; DMF: bâtard; TLF: bâtard; OED: bastard n. and a.; MED: bastard n.; DMLBS: 186a bastardus ]
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Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.

"bastard" (adj., n.), "bastardize" (v.)

The basic meaning of "bastard" is "an illegitimate child", "one born out of wedlock", and the term, like the social plight of the unlucky child, was taboo in polite mixed company in the United States during most of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; today this sense is Standard and now applied almost equally to males and females. Extended senses include "something fake, imitation, or inferior", which is Standard, and the slang uses — reserved almost exclusively for males — meaning "anyone regarded with contempt, hatred, or scorn" or "anyone so termed out of playfulness". Both these slang uses are considered obscene and even continue to be taboo in some Conversational and Informal situations. As adjective the term is Standard meaning "something illegitimate", "something not like others of its kind", and "something that looks like the original but is not genuine".

"To bastardize" is "to make a bastard of", in the literal sense, but is more frequently used to mean "to cheapen", "to debase".

"Bastard"

Any sweetened wine, but more correctly applied to a sweet Spanish wine (white or brown) made of the bastard muscadine grape.

“I will pledge you willingly in a cup of bastard.”—Sir Walter Scott: Kenilworth, chap. iii.

"Bastard"

In the Old Testament the rendering of the Hebrew word "mamzer’", which means "polluted". In Deut. 23:2, it occurs in the ordinary sense of "illegitimate offspring". In Zech. 9:6, the word is used in the sense of "foreigner". From the history of Jephthah we learn that there were bastard offspring among the Jews (Judg. 11:1-7). In Heb. 12:8, the word (Gr. nothoi) is used in its ordinary sense, and denotes "those who do not share the privileges of God’s children".

bastard
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ORIGIN OF BASTARD

1250–1300; Middle English, Anglo-French "bastard", Medieval Latin "bastardus" (from 11th century), perhaps Germanic (Ingvaeonic) "*bast-", presumed variant of "*bost-" = marriage + Old French "-ard" = "-ard", taken as signifying the offspring of a polygynous marriage to a woman of lower status, a pagan tradition not sanctioned by the church; compare Old Frisian "bost" = "marriage" Germanic "*bandstu-", a noun derivative of Indo-European "*bhendh-bind"; the traditional explanation of Old French "bastard" as derivative of "fils de bast" = "child of a packsaddle" is doubtful on chronological and geographical grounds.

"bastard"

When formally used, the word "bastard" simply means a child who is "born out of wedlock". However, when used as an "expletive", it refers to an "unpleasant or despicable person".

The word "bastard" has been evidenced since at least 1250, and comes from the Anglo-French "bastard", in turn from the Medieval Latin "bastardus". The original sense of these words is taken as the offspring of a polygynous marriage (having more than one wife) of lower status. It became an insult by the 1800s, and in 1848 it appeared along with its now obsolete synonyms "harecoppe", "horcop", and "gimbo" ("a bastard's bastard") in The Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.

"bastard" (n.)

"illegitimate child", early 13c., from Old French "bastard" = "acknowledged child of a nobleman by a woman other than his wife" (11c., Modern French "bâtard"), probably from "fils de bast" = "packsaddle son", meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (saddles often doubled as beds while traveling), with pejorative ending "-art" (see "-ard"). Alternative possibly is that the word is from Proto-Germanic "*banstiz" = "barn", equally suggestive of low origin.

Compare German "bänkling" = "bastard"; "child begotten on a bench" (and not in a marriage bed), the source of English "bantling" (1590s) = "brat", "small child". "Bastard" was not always regarded as a stigma; the Conqueror is referred to in state documents as "William the Bastard". Figurative sense of "something not pure or genuine" is late 14c. Use as a generic vulgar term of abuse for a man is attested from 1830. Among the "bastard" words in Halliwell-Phillipps' "Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words" are "avetrol", "chance-bairn", "by-blow", "harecoppe", "horcop", and "gimbo" ("a bastard's bastard").

As an adjective from late 14c. It is used of things spurious or not genuine, having the appearance of being genuine, of abnormal or irregular shape or size, and of mongrels or mixed breeds.

Entries related to bastard

• -ard
• bastardize
• bastardy
• grass widow

"-ard"

also "-art", from Old French "-ard", "-art", from German "-hard", "-hart" = "hardy", forming the second element in many personal names, often used as an intensifier, but in Middle High German and Dutch used as a pejorative element in common nouns, and thus passing into Middle English in "bastard", "coward", "blaffard" ("one who stammers"), etc. It thus became a living element in English, as in "buzzard", "drunkard". The German element is from Proto-Germanic "*-hart" / "*-hard" = "bold", "hardy", from PIE root "*kar-" = "hard".

Words related to "-ard"

"*kar-" | "badger" | "bastard" | "beggar" | "blinkard" | "bollard" | "braggart" | "buzzard" | "coward" | "dagger" | "dastard" | "dotard" | "drunkard" | "dullard" | "gizzard" | "laggard" | "lizard" | "niggard" | "palliard" | "pollard" | "staggard" | "vizard" | "wizard" |

"Bastard" m. Old French "bastard" = "bastard", from "bast" = "pack-saddle" + the pejorative suffix "-ard".

From "William the Bastard" to "William the Conqueror": The King Who Transformed England

Limericks on "Bastard" (1 - 10 of 30)

Shakespeare concordance: all instances of "bastard"

"bastard" occurs 96 times in 109 speeches within 30 works.

Possibly related words: "bastards", "bastard's", "bastardizing"

You may want to see all the instances at once.

• All's Well That Ends Well (1)
• As You Like It (1)
• Comedy of Errors (1)
• Coriolanus (3)
• Cymbeline (1)
• Hamlet (1)
• Henry IV, Part I (2)
• Henry IV, Part II (2)
• Henry V (3)
• Henry VI, Part I (18)
• Henry VI, Part II (3)
• Julius Caesar (2)
• King John (23)
• King Lear (10)
• Love's Labour's Lost (1)
• Lover's Complaint (1)
• Measure for Measure (2)
• Merchant of Venice (2)
• Much Ado about Nothing (2)
• Pericles (1)
• Rape of Lucrece (2)
• Richard II (1)
• Richard III (6)
• Sonnets (3)
• Tempest (1)
• Timon of Athens (3)
• Titus Andronicus (2)
• Troilus and Cressida (3)
• Two Gentlemen of Verona (1)
• Winter's Tale (7)

"bastard" sb.: sweet Spanish wine, resembling muscadel Meas. III. ii. 4 “brown and white ,” 1H4 II. iv. 30.

"bastard" adj.: counterfeit, spurious Mer.V. III. v. 8 “a kind of bastard hope,” Sonn. lxviii. 3.

A Shakespeare Glossary. C. T. Onions. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1911.

• bastard (adj.) - illegitimate, spurious, unauthorized
• bastard (adj.) - inferior, low, of little value
• bastard (n.) - variety of sweet Spanish wine
• bastard (n.) - hybrid, cross-breed, mixed variety
• bastard (n.) - low-born person

bastard

bloody
blutig
bleed
Blut
sang
sanguine
hemorrhage
hematoma
Hämatom (W3)

bloody

Today's word "bloody" comes to us from Old English, where it was "blodig". The Old English version comes ultimately from the Germanic "*blotham", whose derivative "*blothjan" gaves us English "bleed". German "blut", Dutch "bloed", and Swedish "blod" all come from "*blotham", as well.

"Blood" in the Romance languages comes from Latin "sanguis" (from which English gets "sanguine"), and the Greek word for "blood" was "haima" (English "hemorrhage", "hematoma", etc. come from the Greek source).

As far as "bloody" being used as a chiefly British "expletive", that dates from the 17th century. There is not a widely accepted explanation for its origin. One suggests that the word is a contraction of "by our Lady", our Lady being Mary, the mother of God; another explanation is that the word became an "intensive", as linguists call such words, by way of the nickname for Mary I of England, "Bloody Mary".

bull (W3)

"Bullshit" (also "bullcrap") is a common English "expletive" which may be shortened to the "euphemism" "bull" or the initialism "B.S.". In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable "expletive". It is mostly a slang term and a profanity which means "nonsense", especially as a rebuke in response to communication or actions viewed as deceptive, misleading, disingenuous, unfair or false. As with many "expletives", the term can be used as an interjection, or as many other parts of speech, and can carry a wide variety of meanings. A person who communicates nonsense on a given subject may be referred to as a "bullshit artist".

In philosophy and psychology of cognition the term "bullshit" is sometimes used to specifically refer to statements produced without particular concern of truth, to distinguish from a deliberate, manipulative lie intended to subvert the truth.[1]

While the word is generally used in a deprecatory sense, it may imply a measure of respect for language skills or frivolity, among various other benign usages. In philosophy, Harry Frankfurt, among others, analyzed the concept of bullshit as related to, but distinct from, lying.

As an exclamation, "Bullshit!" conveys a measure of dissatisfaction with something or someone, but this usage need not be a comment on the truth of the matter.

"Bull", meaning "nonsense", dates from the 17th century, while the term "bullshit" has been used as early as 1915 in British and American[3] slang, and came into popular usage only during World War II. The word "bull" itself may have derived from the Old French bole meaning "fraud, deceit".[3] The term "horseshit" is a near synonym. An occasionally used South African English equivalent, though more common in Australian slang, is "bull dust".

The earliest attestation mentioned by the Concise Oxford English Dictionary is in fact T. S. Eliot, who between 1910 and 1916 wrote an early poem to which he gave the title "The Triumph of Bullshit", written in the form of a ballade. The word bullshit does not appear in the text of the poem, and Eliot himself never published the poem.[4]

As to earlier etymology the Oxford English Dictionary cites bull with the meaning "trivial, insincere, untruthful talk or writing, nonsense". It describes this usage as being of unknown origin, but notes that in Old French, the word could mean "boul, boule, bole fraud, deceit, trickery; mod. Icel bull 'nonsense'; also ME bull BUL 'falsehood', and BULL verb, to befool, mock, cheat."[5]

Although there is no confirmed etymological connection, these older meanings are synonymous with the modern expression "bull", generally considered and used as a contraction of "bullshit".

Another proposal, according to the lexicographer Eric Partridge, is that the term was popularized by the Australian and New Zealand troops from about 1916 arriving at the front during World War I. Partridge claims that the British commanding officers placed emphasis on bull; that is, attention to appearances, even when it was a hindrance to waging war. The foreign Diggers allegedly ridiculed the British by calling it bullshit.[6]

In George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell writes that the insult bullshit stems from Bolshevik, and the association with communists is the source of the words insult.
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Damnation (W3)

"Damnation" (from Latin "damnatio") is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions committed on Earth.
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Following the religious meaning, the words "damn" and "goddamn" are a common form of religious profanity, in modern times often semantically weakened to the status of mere interjections.

Etymology

Classical Latin "damnum" means "damage", "cost", "expense"; "penalty", "fine", ultimately from a PIE root "*dap-". The verb "damnare" in Roman law acquired a legal meaning of "to pronounce judgement upon".

The word enters Middle English usage from Old French in the early 14th century. The secular meaning survives in English "to condemn" (in a court of law), or "damning criticism". The noun "damnation" itself is mostly reserved for the religious sense in Modern English, while "condemnation" remains common in secular usage.

During the 18th century and until about 1930, the use of "damn" as an "expletive" was considered a severe profanity and was mostly avoided in print.

The expression "not worth a damn" is recorded in 1802.

The use of "damn" as an adjective, short for "damned", is recorded in 1775.

"Damn Yankee" (a Southern US term for "Northerner") dates to 1812.

expletive (W3)

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Etymology: From "expletivus" = "serving to fill out", from "expletus", the past participle of "explere" = "to fill out", itself from "ex-" = "out", "completely" + "plere" = "to fill"

"expletive"

Meaning:

• 1. (Adjective) Serving only to fill out something, such as a word or sentence, or to make up a required number.
• 2. An obscene interjection.
• 3. A word that contributes nothing to the meaning of a sentence, but is needed to fill a grammatical position, as it's in the sentence, 'It's raining'.

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Word History: English captured this word from Middle French "explétif", feminine "explétive". French inherited its word from Late Latin "expletivus" = "serving to fill out", based on Latin "expletus", the past participle of "explere" = "to fill out". "Explere" is built up of "ex-" = "out" + "plere" = "to fill". The Latin root goes back to Proto-Indo-European "pel-" / "pol-" = "to fill", which came to be English "fill" and "full". It also gave Latin its word "plenus" = "full", which underlies the English borrowing "plenty" and "plus" which is behind "plural". In Russian it turned up as "polny" = "full" and in Greek as "polus" = "many" and the prefix "poly-", which is now a prefix in all European Indo-European languages.

"EXPLETIVE" 1

is related to "EXPLETIVE" (2) in that each refers to something essentially empty of meaning inserted into an utterance. In "Expletive" (1) that "empty" addition is a profanity or an obscenity — an oath: That dog is no damned good. Hell, I didn’t know she was there. Most swearwords are also called expletives. Because they mean so little, you do not need to use them often, if at all, and the more use they get, the emptier they become; note how debased the currency of words like "hell" and "damn" has become these days. See "SWEAR".

"EXPLETIVE" 2

like "EXPLETIVE" (1), is an essentially empty word or phrase inserted into a sentence. It too adds little or nothing to meaning but sometimes fills a useful structural or stylistic purpose. Hence a dummy subject such as "there" in "There is another sailboat" is an "expletive" (2). The adverb "there" is always readily distinguished from the expletive "there"; the adverb comes either first or at the very end of the clause (the adverbs are in boldfaced type): "There there is another sailboat." "There is another sailboat there." See "DUMMY SUBJECTS". 1

H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921.

5. Expletives and Forbidden Words
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Lat. "plenus"

English Derivatives: "accomplish", "accomplished", "accomplishment", "complement", "complementary", "complete", "completely", "completeness", "completion", "compliance", "compliant", "compliment", "complimentary", "comply", "deplete", "depletion", "expletive", "implement", "incomplete", "plenary", "plenipotentiary", "plenitude", "plenteous", "plentiful", "plentifully", "plenty", "replenish", "replete", "supplement", "supplemental", "supplementary", "supply"

"expletive", noun

• an interjectory word or expression, frequently profane; an exclamatory oath.
• a syllable, word, or phrase serving to fill out.
• Grammar. a word considered as regularly filling the syntactic position of another, as it in It is his duty to go, or there in There is nothing here.

"expletive", adjective

• Also "expletory": added merely to fill out a sentence or line, give emphasis, etc.: Expletive remarks padded the speech.

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"Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, nerfherder!"

Hop aboard the Millennium Falcon to venture back into the universe of fake swears. "Star Wars" is rife with inventive curse words, from F-bomb alternatives ("farkled" and "krong"), insults ("laser brain" and the Huttese "E chu ta"), to general "expletives" like "vape" and "varp".

In "The Empire Strikes Back", Princess Leia insults Han Solo as a "nerfherder", someone who—as anyone from Alderaan would know—herds "nerfs", or "foul-smelling furry quadrupeds bred for meat across the galaxies".

"Nerfherders" had a bad reputation for being dirty and smelling like their beasts of burden.

"expletive" (n.)

1610s, "a word or phrase serving to fill out a sentence or metrical line", from French "explétif" (15c.) and directly from Late Latin "expletivus" = "serving to fill out", from "explet-" past-participle stem of Latin "explere" = "fill out", "fill up", "glut", from "ex-" = "out" (see "ex-") + "plere" = "to fill" (from PIE root "*pele-" (1) = "to fill").

Sense of "an exclamation", especially "a curse word", an oath", first recorded 1815 in Sir Walter Scott, popularized by edited transcripts of Watergate tapes (mid-1970s), in which "expletive deleted" replaced President Nixon's salty expressions. As an adjective, from 1660s.

"expletive" (adj.)

mid-15c., in grammar, "correlative", from Latin "expletivus" = "serving to fill out" (see "expletive" (n.)).

Entries related to "expletive": "*pele-", "ex-"

"*pele-" (1): "*pele-", Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to fill", with derivatives referring to abundance and multitude.

It forms all or part of: "accomplish"; "complete"; "compliment"; "comply"; "depletion"; "expletive"; "fele"; "fill"; "folk"; "full" (adj.); "gefilte fish"; "hoi polloi"; "implement"; "manipulation"; "nonplus"; "plebe"; "plebeian"; "plebiscite"; "pleiotropy"; "Pleistocene"; "plenary"; "plenitude"; "plenty"; "plenum"; "plenipotentiary"; "pleo-"; "pleonasm"; "plethora"; "Pliocene"; "pluperfect"; "plural"; "pluri-"; "plus"; "Pollux"; "poly-"; "polyamorous"; "polyandrous"; "polyclinic"; "polydactyl"; "polydipsia"; "Polydorus"; "polyethylene"; "polyglot"; "polygon"; "polygraph"; "polygyny"; "polyhedron"; "polyhistor"; "polymath"; "polymer"; "polymorphous"; "Polynesia"; "polyp"; "Polyphemus"; "polyphony"; "polysemy"; "polysyllabic"; "polytheism"; "replenish"; "replete"; "supply"; "surplus"; "volkslied".

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit "purvi" = "much", "prayah" = "mostly"; Avestan "perena-", Old Persian "paru" = "much"; Greek "polys" = "much", "many", "plethos" = "people", "multitude", "great number", "ploutos" = "wealth"; Latin "plus" = "more", "plenus" = "full"; Lithuanian "pilus" = "full", "abundant"; Old Church Slavonic "plunu"; Gothic "filu" = "much", Old Norse "fjöl-", Old English "fela", "feola" = "much", "many"; Old English "folgian"; Old Irish "lan", Welsh "llawn" = "full"; Old Irish "il", Welsh "elu" = "much".

Words related to *pele-

• "*plak-" | "*plat-" | "plani-" | "plano-" | "-plasia" | "-plasm" | "-plast" | "-plasty" | "pleio-" | "pleo-" | "pluri-" | "-plus" | "poly-" |
• "accomplish" | "aeroplane" | "airplane" |
• "complement" | "complete" | "completion" | "compliment" | "comply" |
• "deplete" | "depletion" | "dysplasia" |
• "ectoplasm" | "effleurage" | "esplanade" | "explain" | "explanation" | "expletive" |
• "feldspar" | "fele" | "field" | "fill" | "flaneur" | "floor" | "folk" | "full" |
• "gefilte fish" |
• "hoi polloi" |
• "implement" |
• "llano" |
• "manipulation" |
• "nonplus" |
• "palm" | "palmy" | "pianissimo" | "piano" | "pianoforte" | "plain" | "plan" | "planar" | "planaria" | "plane" | "planet" | "planisphere" | "plasm" | "plasma" | "plasmid" | "plaster" | "plastic" | "plastid" | "plebe" | "plebeian" | "plebiscite" | "pleiotropy" | "pleistocene" | "plenary" | "plenipotentiary" | "plenitude" | "plenty" | "plenum" | "pleonasm" | "plethora" | "pliocene" | "pluperfect" | "plural" | "plus" | "polack" | "poland" | "pole" | "polka" | "pollux" | "polyamorous" | "polyandrous" | "polyclinic" | "polydactyl" | "polydipsia" | "polydorus" | "polyethylene" | "polyglot" | "polygon" | "polygraph" | "polygyny" | "polyhedron" | "polyhistor" | "polymath" | "polymer" | "polymorphous" | "polynesia" | "polyp" | "polyphagia" | "polyphemus" | "polyphony" | "polyploidy" | "polysemy" | "polysyllabic" | "polytechnic" | "polytheism" | "protoplasm" |
• "replenish" | "replete" |
• "supply" | "surplus" |
• "veldt" | "volkslied" |

"Moses", masc. proper name, name of the Hebrew prophet and lawgiver, Middle English "Moises", from Latin, from Greek "Mouses", from Hebrew "Mosheh", which is of unknown origin.

Most scholars see in it the Hebraization of Egyptian "mes", "mesu" = "child", "son", which is often used in theophorous names. According to this derivation the words of Pharaoh's daughter in Ex. 2:10, "For out of the water I drew him" are not the explanation of the Hebrew name "Mosheh", but express the idea that the Egyptian name given by Pharaoh's daughter resembles in sound, and therefore, reminds us of, the Hebrew verb "mashah" = "he drew out", which is suggestive of the words spoken by Pharaoh's daughter. [Ernest Klein, "A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language"]

As an "expletive" or oath, "Oh, Moses", 1840; "Holy Moses" is attested by 1877.

Grasping the Grammatical Expletive

"There is" / "there are", "It is": We often use these constructions in communicating, perhaps without being aware they have a grammatical classification, the "expletive".
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As illustrated, expletives can add style and even needed duty to our writing. At the same time, we should include them with reserve. Like the passive voice, they can weaken writing if used too freely. The occasional expletive with thoughtful placement can help keep writing rich and resonant.

Eggcorn: "expletive" - "explicative"

"attributive expletive"

Definition - A word that is used as an attribute but which, other than emphasis, adds no specific meaning to the sentence.

Example - That was a bloody good meal.

(Here the word "bloody" is used as an adjective, but it doesn't add any specific meaning to the sentence other than to increase emphasis.)

"expletive"

Definition - A word that serves no grammatical function, but that is used either to fill out a sentence or to give emphasis.

Example - I just got access to Google. Yahoo!

Etymology - The term originally denoted "a word or phrase serving to fill out a sentence or metrical line." That sense derived from the Late Latin "expletivus", "serving to fill out" (from "ex-", "out" + "plere", "to fill"). Its use in the sense of "exclamation" was first recorded 1815.

Oxford English Dictionary - Its first citation is from 1677: "He useth them [oaths] as expletive phrases … to plump his speech."

"expletive pronoun"

Definition - A type of pronoun that is used when the sentence's syntax requires a subject but that subject doesn't exist.

Example - In the sentence It is obvious that this definition is incomplete the it is an expletive pronoun because it doesn't refer to any existing subject.

"syntactic expletive"

Definition - A word that performs a syntactic role but that contributes nothing specific to the sentence's meaning.

Example - It is important that you get this done. (In the above it is an example of a type of syntactic expletive called a dummy pronoun.)

Limericks on "expletive"

We found 36 dictionaries with English definitions that include the word "expletive":
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engl. "expletive" = dt. "Schimpfwort", "Kraftausdruck", "der Fluch"

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Did you know?

expletive:

An exclamation or oath, especially one that is profane, vulgar, or obscene.

From Late Latin "expletvus", "serving to fill out", from Latin "expletus", past participle of "explere", "to fill out": "ex-", "ex-" + "plere", "to fill"

Synonyms: curse, curse word, oath, swearing, swearword, cuss

Note: "expletive deleted" = "Kraftausdruck zensiert"
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• expletive
• expletive
• expletive
• expletive negative
• expletive pronoun

• engl. "expletive element"
• dt. "expletives Element"
• port. "elemento expletivo"

Definition: An "expletive element" is a grammatical unit - normally a pro-form - that is meaningless but occupies a syntactic position which must not be left vacant.

Examples: "it" in "It’s raining".

expletive

An "expletive attributive" is an adjective or adverb (or adjectival or adverbial phrase) that does not contribute to the meaning of a sentence, but is used to intensify its emotional force. Often such words or phrases are regarded as profanity or "bad language", though there are also "inoffensive expletive attributives". The word is derived from the Latin verb "explere", meaning "to fill", and it was originally introduced into English in the seventeenth century for various kinds of padding.
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The phrase "expletive deleted" refers to profanity which has been censored by the author or by a subsequent censor, usually appearing in place of the profanity. The phrase has been used for this purpose since at least the 1930s, but became more widely used in the United States after the Watergate scandal.
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"Expletive infixation" is a process by which an "expletive" or profanity is inserted into a word, usually for intensification. It is similar to tmesis, but not all instances are covered by the usual definition of tmesis because the words are not necessarily compounds.

The most commonly inserted English expletives are adjectival: either participles ("fucking", "mother-fucking", "freaking", "blooming", "bleeding", "damned", "wretched") or adjectives ("bloody").
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Partridge, Eric
Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
Colloquialisms, and Catch-Phrases, Solecisms and Catachresis, Nicknames, and Vulgarisms

Wordslinger Eric Partridge intended his dictionary to be a "humble companion" to the Oxford English Dictionary - a ribald companion is more like it! In Partridge's domain, a gentleman's pleasure-garden has little to do with the horticultural, referring as it does to the genitalia muliebria. On the other hand, play pussy is a Royal Air Force term meaning "to take advantage of cloud cover," and since the 1970s British forces have called intelligence operatives secret squirrels. And so it goes.

There is enough slang, cant ("i.e., language of the underworld"), and "expletives" here for all takers - there's low, Cockney rhyming, "picturesque Australian similes," society phrases, and even the semiproverbial. Dorothy Wordsworth, of all people, used a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse--a phrase "applied to a covert yet comprehensible hint, though often stupidity is implied."

Partridge also reveals low language's less larky side. His book can be a dark record of linguistic prejudice through the ages. Of course, in a slang dictionary, nothing is what it seems. Elevated means "drunk"; a deep-freezer is "a girl or woman of the prim or keep-off-me type"; and stage fright is late-20th-century rhyming slang for "a (glass of) light (ale)." Are you able to descry what the jocular Seduce my ancient footwear really means? If not, consider consulting Partridge's masterwork, as large as life and twice as natural.