Is There Really No Such Thing as Swear Words in Japanese?
Perhaps the simplest way to distinguish between profanity in English and profanity in Japanese is that in English swear words have a double-function of being harsher (or cooler) than normal language and being taboo. And as you can probably tell, the coolness or the harshness directly derives from the fact that the words are considered inappropriate and taboo. Calling someone "a fucking idiot" as opposed to "a complete idiot"-despite the fact that they both mean the same thing, is way harsher or cooler because the word "fuck" is considered taboo. Japanese swear words for the most part do not have this double-function. It separates the two functions into two realms.
It has taboo words but they are scarce, represent a minority of "Japanese profanity," and you’ll pretty much never hear someone say them in public, even if they’re adults. These will be words such as racially discriminatory words or perhaps the most infamous example: the word for vagina. The thing to point out regarding this minority is that they’re typically used for literally cursing someone and do not become flexible like English swear words in which you can say something like "fucking" and add it onto any given statement to make it sound harsher/cooler.
The same pretty much goes for the other way around in that there are also ways the Japanese language makes things sound harsher or more aggressive, but these words won’t be taboo. In fact, most of the time, it won't even be the actual words but rather the grammar of the entire speech that makes a statement insulting/harsh.
Example(s):
糞 (くそ/kuso)
Definition: "feces, excrement, dung, poop, bullshit, shit, damn"
This is considered a swear when it is said alone and likened to the English exclamation of "Shit!" or "Damnit!" But the word itself is not profane at all, as shown by the following perfectly normal compound words that contain it.
糞虫 (くそむし/kusomushi)
"dung beetle"
鼻糞 (はなくそ/hanakuso)
"booger, snot, mucus, nasal discharge"
糞食らえ (くそくらえ/kuso kurae)
"eat shit!"
In this example, it returns to being part of a swear but it still is not because the word 糞 (くそ/kuso) itself is considered profane. Instead, it is the imperative/command form of the verb 食らう that makes this statement insulting.
ふざけるなよ！ (fuzakeru na yo!)
"cut the shit! stop fucking around!"
This derives from the perfectly normal verb word 巫山戯る (ふざける/fuzakeru), which simply means "to fool around, to joke around, to kid around, to jest, to screw around, etc."
It becomes an offensive swear not because the word itself is profane but because the casual verb conjugation of it is considered rude. (ふざけんな！ would be even stronger with its even shorter/slang-ish form.)
Alternatively, if we were to conjugate it into the more polite, て-Form + 下さい to mean "please do VERB," then it would become ふざけないで下さい and be a perfectly okay statement to say in a real life conversation without insulting someone, translating to "please stop fooling around"
うるさい (urusai)
Literal definition: ”noisy, loud“
Likelier English translation (due to how rude it is to be telling someone to their face that they are being loud): "Be quiet! Shut up!”
くたばれ! (kutabare)
Literal definition of original verb くたばる: "to kick the bucket, to drop dead, to die, to croak"
Likelier English translation (again, due to the imperative command form verb conjugation that expresses aggression): “Drop dead! Go to hell!"
Exception Example(s):
These words are both insulting/offensive and considered taboo.
手前 (てめえ/temee)
Definition: "you" (used when the speaker is extremely angry and implies that the addressee is of an inferior stature, therefore it is usually translated into English to something along the lines of "bastard, motherfucker, etc." instead)
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