"take the piss" meaning in English

See take the piss in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-take the piss.ogg [Australia] 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. Etymology templates: {{m|en|piss-proud|gloss=falsely presenting as successful}} piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”), {{m|en||taking the piss out of}} taking the piss out of, {{m|en|piss-proud}} piss-proud, {{m|en||taking the piss out of someone}} taking the piss out of someone, {{m|en||taking the piss}} taking the piss 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: Australia, British, Ireland, New-Zealand, idiomatic, slang, transitive, vulgar
    Sense id: en-take_the_piss-en-verb-2vXMvhuz
  2. To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt. Tags: Australia, British, Ireland, New-Zealand, idiomatic, slang, transitive, vulgar
    Sense id: en-take_the_piss-en-verb-hSzEFecp
  3. To be outrageously unreasonable. Tags: Australia, British, Ireland, New-Zealand, idiomatic, slang, transitive, vulgar
    Sense id: en-take_the_piss-en-verb-n2VTfqzR Categories (other): Australian English, British English, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English light verb constructions, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys, New Zealand English Disambiguation of Australian English: 14 28 59 Disambiguation of British English: 26 28 45 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 9 21 70 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 10 20 69 Disambiguation of English light verb constructions: 14 23 63 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 11 18 72 Disambiguation of New Zealand English: 5 10 84
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: piss-take, pisstake, extract the urine, take the mickey Related terms: piss-taker, 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), tirar sarro [Brazil] (Portuguese), bate pula (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

Download JSON data for take the piss meaning in English (6.9kB)

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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "form": "took the piss",
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      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
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      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "take the wind out of someone's sails"
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          "type": "quotation"
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      ],
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        "To tease, ridicule or mock (someone) (with out of)."
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      "examples": [
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          "ref": "2008, Will Swanton, Some Day: Inside the Dream Tour and Mick Fanning's 2007 Championship Win",
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      "glosses": [
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      "head_nr": 2,
      "id": "en-take_the_piss-en-verb-hSzEFecp",
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          "_dis": "26 28 45",
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          "text": "I've got three exams on the same day! That's taking the piss!"
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      "id": "en-take_the_piss-en-verb-n2VTfqzR",
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      "tags": [
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      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "piss-take"
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    {
      "_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": "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": "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"
}
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    "English multiword terms",
    "English slang",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "English transitive verbs",
    "English verbs",
    "English vulgarities",
    "New Zealand English"
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "piss-proud",
        "gloss": "falsely presenting as successful"
      },
      "expansion": "piss-proud (“falsely presenting as successful”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "taking the piss out of"
      },
      "expansion": "taking the piss out of",
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        "2": "piss-proud"
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      "expansion": "piss-proud",
      "name": "m"
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    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "taking the piss out of someone"
      },
      "expansion": "taking the piss out of someone",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "",
        "3": "taking the piss"
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      "expansion": "taking the piss",
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  ],
  "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": [
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        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "taking the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
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        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "taken the piss",
      "head_nr": 1,
      "tags": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> the piss"
      },
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      "name": "en-verb"
    }
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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      "word": "piss-taker"
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    {
      "word": "take the wind out of someone's sails"
    }
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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          "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": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To tease, ridicule or mock (someone) (with out of)."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "links": [
        [
          "tease",
          "tease"
        ],
        [
          "ridicule",
          "ridicule"
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          "out of#English"
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        "idiomatic",
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        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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      "examples": [
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          "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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To subject those present to teasing, ridicule or mockery, or to show contempt."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "links": [
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          "teasing",
          "teasing"
        ],
        [
          "ridicule",
          "ridicule"
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        [
          "mockery",
          "mockery"
        ],
        [
          "contempt",
          "contempt"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "British",
        "Ireland",
        "New-Zealand",
        "idiomatic",
        "slang",
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    },
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I've got three exams on the same day! That's taking the piss!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be outrageously unreasonable."
      ],
      "head_nr": 2,
      "links": [
        [
          "outrageous",
          "outrageous"
        ],
        [
          "unreasonable",
          "unreasonable"
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        "British",
        "Ireland",
        "New-Zealand",
        "idiomatic",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/En-au-take_the_piss.ogg",
      "tags": [
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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": "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": "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"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). 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.