Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A piece of excrement.
  • noun Slang A contemptible person.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A ball or lump of excrement; dung.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun vulgar A piece of solid animal or human feces.
  • noun A pejorative term, typically directed at a person.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun obscene terms for feces

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English tord; see der- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English toord, tord, from Old English tord ("piece of excrement, dung, filth "), from Proto-Germanic *turdan (“mud, manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to split, flay”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tord ("lump of excrement"), Old High German zort ("dung, excrement"), Old Norse torð- ("dung-", in compounds), Old English tyrdel ("dropping, small piece of excrement"). More at tear, treddle.

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Examples

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

  • A turd is still a turd no matter how you describe it but a turd is also illustrative of all that is wholesome about life here and everywhere.

    The Veracruz You Do Not Know 2009

Comments

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  • I shouldn't have left my husband

          if the other man hadn't occurred -

    told me he loved me more than his wife,

          the turd.

    - Peter Reading, Song of the Bedsit Girl, from Tom O' Bedlam's Beauties, 1981

    June 29, 2008

  • Means "fragile" in Persian.

    July 13, 2009

  • Leading seaman's insult to new National Serviceman: You're going around like a turd in a trance (Royal Navy, ca. 1955).

    April 3, 2012