50 Innocent Words That Surprisingly Sound Naughty

As Krusty the Clown once suggested, humor often stems from words that sound risqué rather than being explicitly vulgar, such as mukluk. Indeed, certain words carry entirely innocent meanings despite their suggestive sounds—like mukluk, which denotes an Inuit sealskin boot. It’s hard not to chuckle or raise an eyebrow at terms like cockchafer or sexangle, even when you know they’re harmless. Below is a list of 50 words that might sound cheeky but are entirely innocent.

1. Aholehole

Despite its misleading appearance, Aholehole is pronounced “ah-holy-holy” and refers to a species of flagtail fish found in the central Pacific, particularly around Hawaii.

2. Aktashite

Aktashite is an uncommon mineral utilized as a source of arsenic, copper, and mercury. Named after the village of Aktash in eastern Russia, it was first identified in 1968. The suffix –ite, commonly found in mineral names like graphite and kryptonite, is also present here.

3. Assapanick

During his 1606 exploration of Virginia's coast, Captain John Smith (famous for his connection to Pocahontas) documented in his journal a creature referred to by local tribes as the assapanick. He described how these animals, by stretching their legs and the skin between them, could glide distances of 30 to 40 yards. Assapanick is another term for the flying squirrel.

4. Assart

Assart is an archaic medieval English legal term referring to forested land cleared and converted for agricultural use. It can also function as a verb meaning “to clear woodland” or prepare it for farming.

5. Bastinado

Originating from bastón, the Spanish word for a cane or stick, bastinado is a 16th-century term for a form of punishment involving beating, particularly on the soles of the feet.

6. Boobyalla

Besides being the name of a former shipping port in northern Tasmania, boobyalla also refers to the wattlebird, a member of the honeyeater family found across Australia. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term is derived from Tasmanian Aboriginal language.

7. Bum-bailiff

In his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Samuel Johnson defined a bum-bailiff as “a low-ranking bailiff,” specifically one tasked with making arrests.

8. Bumfiddler

One interpretation of bumfiddle is “to deface or ruin something,” particularly by scribbling or marking a document to render it unusable. A bumfiddler is someone who engages in such acts. (However, the word also carries less innocent connotations.)

9. Bummalo

Similar to the aholehole, the bummalo is a tropical fish native to Southeast Asia, specifically a type of lizardfish. In Indian cuisine, it is often referred to as “Bombay duck.”

10. Clatterfart

A 1552 Tudor dictionary defines a clatterfart as someone who “will reveal any trivial secret”—essentially, a gossip or blabbermouth.

11. Cockapert

Cockapert is an Elizabethan term for “a cheeky individual,” as per the OED, but it can also describe someone who is impudent or overly confident.

12. Cock-bell

The term cock-bell can denote a small handbell, a spring-blooming wildflower, or an old English dialect term for an icicle. Its origin traces back to coque, the French word for seashell.

13. Cockchafer

The cockchafer is a sizable beetle found in Europe and western Asia. While the origin of its name remains unclear, one theory suggests their aggressive nature allows them to be pitted against each other like fighting cockerels.

14. Dik-dik

Standing just over a foot tall at the shoulder, the dik-dik ranks among the tiniest antelopes in Africa. Its name is said to mimic the sound of its alarm call.

15. Dreamhole

A dreamhole is an architectural feature designed to allow sunlight or air into a building. Historically, it also referred to openings in watchtowers for lookouts or in church towers to enhance the resonance of bells.

16. Fanny-Blower

A 19th-century industrial slang glossary describes a fanny-blower or fanner as a device “used in scissor-grinding,” consisting of “a wheel with vanes attached to a rotating shaft, housed in a casing to generate a strong air current.” Essentially, it’s a type of fan.

17. Fartlek

Fartlek is a training method where intense exercise intervals are mixed with lighter activity in a single, extended session. The term translates to “speed-play” in Swedish.

18. Fuksheet

In Middle English, fuk referred to a sail, particularly the foremost sail on a vessel. Terms like fukmast denoted the ship’s foremast, while fuksheet or fuksail described the sail connected to the fukmast.

19. Gullgroper

The phrase to grope a gull was a Tudor-era expression meaning “to exploit someone” or “to deceive an unsuspecting person”—and a gullgroper specialized in such deceit.

20. Haboob

Derived from an Arabic term meaning “blustering” or “blowing,” haboob describes a powerful, dry wind that sweeps across deserts and arid regions, often creating massive sandstorms. These winds are typically triggered by the collapse of a cold air front, which lifts dust and debris from the ground as it descends.

21. Humpenscrump

According to the OED, humpenscrump refers to “a crudely constructed musical instrument.” It was historically another term for the hurdy-gurdy, alongside names like humstrum, celestinette, and wind-broach.

22. Invagination

Invagination refers to the act of inserting one object into another, such as a sword into a scabbard. It also describes the process of turning something inside out. Its opposite is known as “evagination.”

23. Jaculate

Jaculation involves the act of hurling or shaking something, while jaculate means “to move or thrust forward abruptly.”

24. Jerkinhead

A jerkinhead is a type of roof that is partially gabled, forming only part of a triangular shape beneath its eaves, and is flattened or squared off at the top, creating a hip. These roofs are also referred to as “half-hipped” or “clipped-gable” roofs.

25. Knobstick

Besides being an old term for a walking stick or club, knobstick was 19th-century slang for a worker who crossed a picket line or replaced a striking employee. (Today, such individuals are called “scabs.”)

26. Kumbang

A kumbang is a seasonal, hot, dry wind that blows across the lowlands of western Indonesia.

27. Lobcocked

Lobcock is an archaic Tudor-era term for a clumsy, unsophisticated rustic. The adjective lobcocked similarly means “uncouth” or “gullible.”

28. Nestle-Cock

A nestle-cock refers to the last egg to hatch in a brood. Originating in the early 1600s, it was also used as a term for an excessively indulged or coddled child.

29. Nicker-Pecker

Nicker-pecker is an old English regional term for the European green woodpecker, the largest woodpecker species found in Great Britain. Here, nicker likely stems from nick, meaning “a minor cut or mark.”

30. Nobber

In early 19th-century England, boxers were called nobbers, a term originating from the earlier slang use of nobber to describe a hit or strike to the head.

31. Nodgecock

Nodgecock is an old Tudor-era term for a simpleton. It likely originates from the earlier word noddypoll, referring to someone who mindlessly agrees with any suggestion, regardless of its merit.

32. Pakapoo

Pakapoo is a 19th-century Australian term for a lottery or raffle. It likely comes from the Cantonese phrase baahk gáap piu, meaning “white pigeon ticket.” The Oxford English Dictionary speculates that in the game’s original form, a white dove may have been used to pick the winning ticket.

33. Peniaphobia

Despite its suggestive sound, peniaphobia refers to the fear of poverty.

34. Penistone

Penistone (pronounced “PEN-is-tun”) is a charming market town in Yorkshire, England, known for its namesake coarse woolen fabric and locally quarried sandstone.

35. Pershittie

The Scottish term pershittie describes someone who is overly precise or fussy. It belongs to a group of late 18th- to early 19th-century Scots words with similar meanings, such as perjinkity, perskeety, and the more familiar pernickety.

36. Pissaladière

Pissalat is a southern French sauce made from blended anchovies, olive oil, garlic, pepper, and herbs. It’s a key ingredient in pissaladière, a type of open-faced tart topped with onions and black olives.

37. Pissasphalt

Pissasphalt is a dense, semi-liquid bitumen resembling tar. Its name originates from the Greek word pissa, meaning pitch.

38. Poonga

Poonga oil, extracted from the seeds of the Indian beech tree (Pongamia pinnata), is widely used in southern India for various purposes, ranging from skincare to an alternative fuel for engines and generators.

39. Sack-Butt

When spelled with one t, sackbut refers to an early Renaissance brass instrument akin to a trombone. With two ts, sack-butt denotes a wine barrel.

40. Sexagesm

The term sexagesimal relates to the number 60, and something proceeding sexagesimally does so in increments of 60. Thus, sexagesm means “one-sixtieth of something.”

41. Sexangle

Both sexangle and the equally suggestive sexagon are 17th-century terms for a hexagon, a six-sided geometric shape. The prefix sexa– comes from the Latin word for “six,” not the Greek heks.

42. Sexfoiled

The term foil, originating in Middle English, refers to a leaf or petal and is still used in plant names like bird’s-foot trefoil (a clover) and creeping cinquefoil (a rose-family weed). Sexfoil describes a six-leaved plant or flower, or an architectural design featuring six lobes or leaves.

43. Shittah

The shittah is an acacia tree native to Arabia and northeast Africa, mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah as one of the trees God “will plant in the wilderness” of Israel, alongside cedar, pine, and myrtle. Its name entered English from Hebrew in the early Middle Ages and likely traces back to an Ancient Egyptian term for a thorn-tree.

44. Skiddy-Cock

Billcock, brook-ouzel, oar-cock, velvet runner, grey-skit, and skiddy-cock are all historical English regional names for the water rail, a small, elusive wading bird inhabiting wetlands across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The term skiddy-cock may come from skit, a 17th-century word meaning “to act timidly” or “to move swiftly,” or from the older 15th-century word skitter, meaning “to produce watery waste.”

45. Slagger

In 19th-century England, a slagger was a worker in a blast furnace responsible for removing the stony waste, or slag, produced during the smelting of metals. Earlier, in the 16th century, slagger was a verb meaning “to loiter” or “to walk clumsily.”

46. Teasehole

A teasehole is the aperture in a glassmaker’s furnace where fuel is introduced.

47. Tetheradick

In some rural British areas, sheep farmers once used traditional counting systems, many of which are ancient and predate the Norman and Anglo-Saxon invasions. While most disappeared during the Industrial Revolution, a few persist locally and are preserved in rhymes, sayings, and folk songs. Tether was an old Lake District term for the number 3, and dick represented 10; thus, tetheradick signified a count of 13.

48. Tit-Bore

Tit-bore—or fully, tit-bore-tat-bore—is a 17th-century Scottish term for a game of peekaboo. It was also known as hitty-titty, a name shared with the game of hide and seek.

49. Tit-Tyrant

Tit-tyrants are a group of eight flycatcher species found in the Andes Mountains and South America’s western rainforests. Among them, the ash-breasted tit-tyrant is critically endangered, with fewer than 1000 individuals remaining in isolated high-altitude regions of Peru and Bolivia.

50. Wankapin

Wankapin, also known as water chinquapin, refers to the American lotus, Nelumbo lutea, a wetland plant native to Central America. The lotus was likely brought to the southern United States by Indigenous tribes, who used its tubers and seeds (called “alligator corn”) as a food source.

This list originally appeared in 2015 and has been refreshed for 2023.

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