"take the piss" meaning in English

See take the piss in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-take the piss.ogg Forms: takes the piss [present, singular, third-person], taking the piss [participle, present], took the piss [past], taken the piss [participle, past]
Etymology: Possibly from piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”). In which case taking the piss out of would mean deflating their false pride, usually through disparagement or mockery. As the piss-proud metaphor became dated, taking the piss out of someone came to refer to disparagement or mockery itself, regardless of the pride of the subject. Eventually the shortened, intransitive form taking the piss became common. Head templates: {{en-verb|take<,,took,taken> the piss}} take the piss (third-person singular simple present takes the piss, present participle taking the piss, simple past took the piss, past participle taken the piss)
  1. To tease, ridicule or mock (someone) (with out of). Tags: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, slang, transitive, vulgar
    Sense id: en-take_the_piss-en-verb-2vXMvhuz Categories (other): British English, Commonwealth English Disambiguation of British English: 32 34 34 Disambiguation of Commonwealth English: 34 30 36
  2. To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt. Tags: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, slang, transitive, vulgar
    Sense id: en-take_the_piss-en-verb-hSzEFecp Categories (other): British English, Commonwealth English Disambiguation of British English: 32 34 34 Disambiguation of Commonwealth English: 34 30 36
  3. To be outrageously unreasonable. Tags: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, idiomatic, slang, transitive, vulgar
    Sense id: en-take_the_piss-en-verb-n2VTfqzR Categories (other): British English, Commonwealth English, English entries with incorrect language header, English light verb constructions, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Italian translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Romanian translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Terms with Turkish translations Disambiguation of British English: 32 34 34 Disambiguation of Commonwealth English: 34 30 36 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 28 51 Disambiguation of English light verb constructions: 17 21 62 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 14 15 71 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 15 22 63 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 12 13 75 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 16 19 65 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 16 17 67 Disambiguation of Terms with Italian translations: 13 15 72 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 30 22 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 26 26 47 Disambiguation of Terms with Romanian translations: 26 23 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 14 16 70 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 13 15 72 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 26 23 50 Disambiguation of Terms with Turkish translations: 26 23 50
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: piss-take, pisstake, extract the urine, take the mickey Related terms: piss-taker, piss and wind, take the wind out of someone's sails Translations (to mock or ridicule (transitive)): se foutre de la gueule (French), foutage de gueule [masculine] (French), sich lustig machen über (German), verarschen (German), prendere per il culo (Italian), prendere in giro (Italian), robić sobie jaja (Polish), tirar sarro [Brazil] (Portuguese), bate pula (Romanian), lua la pulă (Romanian), подъёбывать (podʺjóbyvatʹ) [imperfective, vulgar] (Russian), vacilar (Spanish), tomar el pelo (Spanish), driva (Swedish), taşak geçmek [vulgar] (Turkish)
Disambiguation of 'to mock or ridicule (transitive)': 51 43 6

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”). In which case taking the piss out of would mean deflating their false pride, usually through disparagement or mockery. As the piss-proud metaphor became dated, taking the piss out of someone came to refer to disparagement or mockery itself, regardless of the pride of the subject. Eventually the shortened, intransitive form taking the piss became common.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
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    },
    {
      "form": "taking the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
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        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken the piss",
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        "past"
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    }
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      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the piss"
      },
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "piss-taker"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "piss and wind"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "take the wind out of someone's sails"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "32 34 34",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "34 30 36",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Commonwealth English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987, Judy Vermorel, Sex Pistols: the inside story, page 16:",
          "text": "You know, cos he was like taking the piss out of them and they took the piss out of him.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Carole Zucker, In the company of actors: reflections on the craft of acting, page 152:",
          "text": "A lot of that stuff that people take the piss out of all the time is actually useful.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To tease, ridicule or mock (someone) (with out of)."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "id": "en-take_the_piss-en-verb-2vXMvhuz",
      "links": [
        [
          "tease",
          "tease"
        ],
        [
          "ridicule",
          "ridicule"
        ],
        [
          "mock",
          "mock"
        ],
        [
          "out of",
          "out of#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
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    {
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          "_dis": "32 34 34",
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          "_dis": "34 30 36",
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, Will Swanton, Some Day: Inside the Dream Tour and Mick Fanning's 2007 Championship Win:",
          "text": "He's either taking it easy or taking the piss by arriving at the eleventh hour.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "id": "en-take_the_piss-en-verb-hSzEFecp",
      "links": [
        [
          "teasing",
          "teasing"
        ],
        [
          "ridicule",
          "ridicule"
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          "mockery",
          "mockery"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
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          "_dis": "22 28 51",
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "17 21 62",
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        {
          "_dis": "14 15 71",
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          "_dis": "16 17 67",
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          "_dis": "30 22 48",
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          "_dis": "26 26 47",
          "kind": "other",
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          "_dis": "26 23 50",
          "kind": "other",
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          "_dis": "14 16 70",
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          "_dis": "13 15 72",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've got three exams on the same day! That's taking the piss!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be outrageously unreasonable."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "id": "en-take_the_piss-en-verb-n2VTfqzR",
      "links": [
        [
          "outrageous",
          "outrageous"
        ],
        [
          "unreasonable",
          "unreasonable"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
      ]
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  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-take the piss.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c7/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "piss-take"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pisstake"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "extract the urine"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "take the mickey"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "se foutre de la gueule"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "foutage de gueule"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "sich lustig machen über"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "verarschen"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "prendere per il culo"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "prendere in giro"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "robić sobie jaja"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "Brazil"
      ],
      "word": "tirar sarro"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "bate pula"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "lua la pulă"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "podʺjóbyvatʹ",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective",
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "подъёбывать"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "vacilar"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "tomar el pelo"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "driva"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "51 43 6",
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "taşak geçmek"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the piss"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "British English",
    "Commonwealth English",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English idioms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English light verb constructions",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English slang",
    "English transitive verbs",
    "English verbs",
    "English vulgarities",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Italian translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Romanian translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "Terms with Turkish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Possibly from piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”). In which case taking the piss out of would mean deflating their false pride, usually through disparagement or mockery. As the piss-proud metaphor became dated, taking the piss out of someone came to refer to disparagement or mockery itself, regardless of the pride of the subject. Eventually the shortened, intransitive form taking the piss became common.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
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      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the piss"
      },
      "expansion": "take the piss (third-person singular simple present takes the piss, present participle taking the piss, simple past took the piss, past participle taken the piss)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "piss-taker"
    },
    {
      "word": "piss and wind"
    },
    {
      "word": "take the wind out of someone's sails"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987, Judy Vermorel, Sex Pistols: the inside story, page 16:",
          "text": "You know, cos he was like taking the piss out of them and they took the piss out of him.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Carole Zucker, In the company of actors: reflections on the craft of acting, page 152:",
          "text": "A lot of that stuff that people take the piss out of all the time is actually useful.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To tease, ridicule or mock (someone) (with out of)."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "links": [
        [
          "tease",
          "tease"
        ],
        [
          "ridicule",
          "ridicule"
        ],
        [
          "mock",
          "mock"
        ],
        [
          "out of",
          "out of#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2008, Will Swanton, Some Day: Inside the Dream Tour and Mick Fanning's 2007 Championship Win:",
          "text": "He's either taking it easy or taking the piss by arriving at the eleventh hour.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "links": [
        [
          "teasing",
          "teasing"
        ],
        [
          "ridicule",
          "ridicule"
        ],
        [
          "mockery",
          "mockery"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt"
        ]
      ],
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        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
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    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've got three exams on the same day! That's taking the piss!",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be outrageously unreasonable."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "links": [
        [
          "outrageous",
          "outrageous"
        ],
        [
          "unreasonable",
          "unreasonable"
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        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "UK",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
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  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-take the piss.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c7/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "piss-take"
    },
    {
      "word": "pisstake"
    },
    {
      "word": "extract the urine"
    },
    {
      "word": "take the mickey"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "se foutre de la gueule"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "foutage de gueule"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "sich lustig machen über"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "verarschen"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "prendere per il culo"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "prendere in giro"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "robić sobie jaja"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "Brazil"
      ],
      "word": "tirar sarro"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "bate pula"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "lua la pulă"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "podʺjóbyvatʹ",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective",
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "подъёбывать"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "vacilar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "tomar el pelo"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "word": "driva"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "to mock or ridicule (transitive)",
      "tags": [
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "taşak geçmek"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take the piss"
}

Download raw JSONL data for take the piss meaning in English (5.7kB)

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1698",
  "msg": "unrecognized head form: out of",
  "path": [
    "take the piss"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "take the piss",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.