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bloody

adjective, adverbInformal

A British English slang term. Browse all British slang.

What it means

  1. A general-purpose intensifier expressing annoyance, emphasis or admiration: bloody hell, bloody brilliant, bloody typical.

In use

  • It's bloody freezing out there.

  • Bloody hell, look at that queue.

  • That was a bloody good meal.

    Note: Positive. The word takes its charge from what surrounds it.

Where it comes from

Considered genuinely shocking in print until the mid-20th century — Shaw's Pygmalion caused a scandal with a single use of it in 1914. It is now near the bottom of the offensiveness scale and functions mostly as emphasis.