bugger

Word family

• buggery
  noun
• buggered
  adjective

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four can name a person you dislike or find foolish, but they differ sharply in strength and register. 'Idiot' is the only safe, non-vulgar choice and works in writing and formal speech. 'Bugger' and 'sod' are both British mild-vulgar slang; among friends they can sound almost affectionate ('you lucky bugger', 'the poor sod'), yet to a stranger they are clearly rude. 'Git' is also British and informal but a touch milder than 'bugger', aimed more at someone who is annoying or unpleasant than foolish. Note that 'bugger' alone carries a separate, far stronger taboo meaning tied to anal sex, so even the slang use feels coarser than 'git'. For a learner: say 'You silly git' to a friend, but never use any of these three in an essay or a job interview.

Common collocations

Etymology

The word came into English in the 1500s from a Dutch term that itself goes back to a Latin word for 'Bulgarian'. Medieval church writers used the name of the Bulgarians, linked to a religious group judged to be heretics, as an insult, and the meaning shifted to a person accused of anal sex. From that strong taboo sense, British English later softened the word into a general coarse term for a person or a difficult thing, and into the verb meaning to ruin something.