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Original poster

Do you class knackered as swearing?

264 replies

DisappointedD · 14/01/2026 19:36

I have always thought of it as a mild swear word. A word I wouldn’t want my younger children using but wouldn’t be too bothered by a teen (but not to their grandparents) type word.

There is a current radio ad using the word which made me think about it earlier. I was surprised when I heard it and didn’t think it was a word I’d heard used in ad’s before.

OP posts:
Monty27 · 15/01/2026 01:40

Knackers was common slang for gypsies, men's testicle, and the knackers yard was where horses or donkeys were sent when they were of no use in agriculture any more and were put down.
It's certainly an unsavoury word where I was brought up.

mbosnz · 14/01/2026 22:52

Mum wouldn't wash my mouth out with soap, and Dad wouldn't give me a hiding for using knackered, so not a swear word in our family, no.

tightfit · 14/01/2026 22:46

DisappointedD · 14/01/2026 19:40

Just because it has a meaning doesn’t automatically mean it’s not a swear word or pleasant.

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You answered your own question - it’s not pleasant and I wouldn’t use it in front of my parents ( I’m in my 50s and have never sworn in front of them) but it’s not a swear word Smile

Squirrelchops1 · 14/01/2026 22:30

An offensive word re Irish Travellers is knackers

Sweetiedarling7 · 14/01/2026 22:29

Not swearing at all and I used to use it a lot but stopped when I suddenly thought about what it actually means.
I use “shagged” instead now in informal adult company (which I suppose some might find mildly offensive) or shattered if need to be more formal.

Squirrelchops1 · 14/01/2026 22:28

Gingerdeer · 14/01/2026 19:41

I googled it and it just says “tired”. I say it around kids all the time. Never even crossed my mind that it was rude?!? (In my 30s and from the south)

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No it doesn't just say tired.

NormasArse · 14/01/2026 22:26

I’ve always thought of it as a swear word. It would be rude to say it in polite company, but I’d say it to my friends.

Novemberbrain · 14/01/2026 22:24

HandMadeInYorkshire · 14/01/2026 19:51

Knackers (in Yorkshire) was another name for bollocks, so it was seen as a swear word, same as 'fart', that was also known as a swear word.

Agree re knackers, this was my understanding too (North West England). I'm also still routinely shocked to find 'fart' used in plays etc for young children but no-one around me ever appears especially surprised😆

illsendansostotheworld · 14/01/2026 22:24

No but my mum does!

Cantbebotheredwithchores · 14/01/2026 22:23

FatFoxie · 14/01/2026 22:16

Slang, but not rude in my book. I wouldn't use it with the older generation though. My mum would disagree; she'd say it was mild swearing.

It’s the older generation that use it a lot in my area.
The ‘Eee pet I’m ready for the knackers yards’ and ‘Eee pet I’m knackered’
as a nurse this is said to me multiple times per day!

CasperGutman · 14/01/2026 22:22

Knackered isn't a swear word to me. It's a bit slangy/informal, but not offensive.

It comes from suggesting that someone is fit to be knackered, as in, to be sent to the knacker's yard. The knacker was a person who disposed of old, worn-out horses when they were no longer fit to do useful work.

The origin of the word knacker itself is a bit uncertain but apparently it's possibly from an Old Norse word hnakkur meaning a saddle or possibly neck.

SpaceAging · 14/01/2026 22:22

LighthouseLED · 14/01/2026 21:56

Or this for a more reliable source!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knackered

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It obviously had an urban dictionary understanding that those who know, no – and those who don’t, don’t.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t have had many of us say the same as I’ve just said, as well as having it appear on the Internet, printed before we even had this discussion today.

Cantbebotheredwithchores · 14/01/2026 22:21

DisappointedD · 14/01/2026 21:47

Has any one heard the advert? I think it’s uber eats, it’s a mum telling a bed time story to her child and she says the mummy was absolutely knackered so ordered take out, something along those lines. Felt even more wrong in that she was speaking to a child.

In the north east/newcastle/gateshead/sunderland.
We often use this term….and often say it around kids….because it means tired/exhausted.
Nothing to do with sex and it’s not even mildly a swear/rude or crude word.

Cantbebotheredwithchores · 14/01/2026 22:18

Also in Newcastle Geordie we also say ‘he’s a knacker’ or ‘she’s a knacker’ meaning that they are silly/crackers.
nothing to do with testicles.

im laughing at all the people saying its a swear words as its used all the time in Newcastle/gateshead/Sunderland etc and wouldn’t be classed as being rude/crude.

FatFoxie · 14/01/2026 22:16

Slang, but not rude in my book. I wouldn't use it with the older generation though. My mum would disagree; she'd say it was mild swearing.

Cairowerewolf · 14/01/2026 22:07

SPQRomanus · 14/01/2026 21:58

It was cringe worthy. I'm sure he wouldn't have used those words in his former professional roles. He probably thought it would make him appear down to earth and a man of the people. That's why he keeps going on about how his dad was a toolmaker or whatever he did.

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Indeed . It landed terribly , particularly when he was discussing violence against women and girls and the whole grok issue. The Kama sutra, screwed and knackered all in one mouthful ? Came across as very misogynistic to me. I’m surprised the speaker didn’t pull him up on it, but a few women on his own backbenches looked unimpressed .

Thelnebriati · 14/01/2026 22:01

It means 'worn out, no longer fit for use'.
An abattoir is where fit, healthy animals are sent to enter the human food chain; the knackers yard is where you send worn out or sick beasts, ones that aren't fit for human consumption.
The fact men use it as a slur for women who they see as 'well used' doesn't change the original meaning.

SPQRomanus · 14/01/2026 21:58

Cairowerewolf · 14/01/2026 21:42

I must admit I cringed hard when Keir Starmer said it today in pmq’s. Knackered and screwed, both felt like sexualised language or something and I don’t know , a bit ungentlemanly and unnecessary for a professional man amongst women in a work environment. I guess he is trying to show he has what Kemi Badenoch described as ‘the baubles’ but stooping to that level didn’t suit him too much. Disclaimer it’s a word I use all the time along with all the swear words , but… it suits me better 🤣
I did tell my own mother I was knackered lately and she recoiled.

It was cringe worthy. I'm sure he wouldn't have used those words in his former professional roles. He probably thought it would make him appear down to earth and a man of the people. That's why he keeps going on about how his dad was a toolmaker or whatever he did.

LighthouseLED · 14/01/2026 21:56

SpaceAging · 14/01/2026 21:54

Hope this helps

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Or this for a more reliable source!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knackered

InterestedDad37 · 14/01/2026 21:55

DisappointedD · 14/01/2026 19:39

Yes tired, but IMO not a particularly pleasant way of saying it. I do say it, but wouldn’t want my 5 year old saying it.

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When I was a kid, it very much was a swear word, but has lost a lot of its potency.
I wouldn't be comfortable with a young child using it, but it's kind of an everyday word for many.

SpaceAging · 14/01/2026 21:54

liveforsummer · 14/01/2026 21:44

I disagree as to me bollock can only ever refer to testicles where as knackered means like others have said the old tired horse going to the abattoir or ‘knacker’ which I think probably predates knackers used to describe testicles?!

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Hope this helps

Do you class knackered as swearing?
LighthouseLED · 14/01/2026 21:54

EmeraldShamrock000 · 14/01/2026 21:49

I have never heard it as tired from sex, no wonder parents didn’t allow it.
In Ireland the knackers yard was where the travelling people lived, if you misbehaved you would be threatened with being sent to the knackers yard, so I assume that is why it is seen as a slur in Ireland.

That’s interesting - I haven’t heard that connotation in the UK. The knackers yard was where you took animals (largely horses) to be slaughtered.

Jimpson · 14/01/2026 21:54

Knackers are another slang term for balls though. Not massively rude but not totally innocent.

SPQRomanus · 14/01/2026 21:53

Backtothe90ties · 14/01/2026 21:10

A five year old child at the school I work at said motherfucker today. I could not get worked up about anyone saying knackered 🤣

Good god, what appalling parents must that poor child have.

Itiswhysofew · 14/01/2026 21:52

I wouldn't say it's a swear word. DM would've told us off for using it. I'd definitely think twice about who I'd say it to, as it's just a bit unpleasant.