fark

An alteration of fuck, using a non‐rhotic ⟨ar⟩ to signify an elongated /ɐ/ or /ʌ/. The spelling has been used in works by Australian satirists since at least 1970.^[1][2]

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /fɐːk/
• (UK, General South African) IPA^(key): /fɑːk/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /fɑɹk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)k

fark

1. (UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, vulgar) Pronunciation spelling of fuck, used to express surprise, anger, or emphasis.

In non‐rhotic dialects, the spelling fark serves as a “visual elongation” of the word fuck. In Australia and New Zealand specifically, the strut and start vowels are qualitatively identical (/ɐ/), meaning fark is phonetically a long‐vowel version of the original term (/fɐːk/). This phonetic identity gives the form significant cultural weight as a high‐intensity intensifier. In rhotic dialects (such as General American), however, the ⟨r⟩ is fully articulated (/fɑɹk/). Because this alters the phonetic shape of the word, it functions in those dialects as a true minced oath rather than an intensifier. (For expressive elongation in rhotic dialects, graphemic repetition is typically used instead, as in fuuuck.)

• farken

• fuuuck

From the name of the popular website Fark, because when it links to a small website from its main page, the small site is often subjected to so much new traffic that it is rendered inoperable due to server failure.

fark (third-person singular simple present farks, present participle farking, simple past and past participle farked)

1. (Internet, transitive, US) To subject a website to a high volume of requests, such that the server stops responding.

• Slashdot effect

• frak

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish فرق, from Arabic فَرْق (farq).

• IPA^(key): /faɾk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fark

fark (definite accusative farkı, plural farklar)

1. difference