Hello,

I recently watched a birthday E-card Flash, at the end it said "U smell like a queef", what does "queef" mean? I could not find it in the dictionary.

Thanks
Li

Dear Li,

That was a strange birthday card! Unlike suck, which can be acceptable in conversation, queef is always impolite. In fact, it is a pretty bad word. A queef is the gas (especially bad smelling gas) that comes out of a woman’s vagina. This word is a relatively new slang term from the 1990s. Another (and more usual) way to describe this is a vaginal fart.

In general, you won’t find slang words in the Standard English dictionary. If you do, it will probably give you a different meaning. For example, if you looked for suck, you might find “to draw in by establishing a partial vacuum” which would make you wonder why it was ever considered bad.

For English learners, I usually recommend the NTC Dictionary of American Slang. However, for more unusual words like queef, you would need something more comprehensive, such as Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang. Both are great resources.

Your pal,

A. C. Kemp

Note from reader, Tonia H. (10/12/06)
I just want to let you know that queef is older than the 1990's. I first heard it in 1986 I was an innocent 13 year old, I attended school in a small town (approx 5,000), and lived out in the country in Upper Michigan (which was often behind the times). For queef to have reached that area, and me at that age and in those circumstances, I'm sure it had been in common use for quite awhile by then. My husband just read this, he first heard it the mid 1980's. He attended a Christian high school that was in a town of about 30,000 in a very conservative area in northern Indiana. He said it was even one guy's nickname.

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