Profanity in Finnish is used in the form of intensifiers, adjectives, adverbs and particles, and is based on varying taboos, with religious vulgarity being very prominent. It often uses aggressive mood which involves omission of the negative verb ei while implying its meaning with a swear word. Most words in Finnish can be used euphemistically in place of profanity by preceding it with voi (an interjection meaning "oh!"), for example voi paska!, which translates to "oh shit!". This also applies for vieköön (third person singular imperative of the verb viedä "to take"), an example of this is the phrase hiisi vieköön (may the goblin take it). However, this was more prominent in older Finnish. The language also has other similar non-offensive constructs like taivahan talikynttilät which means "tallow candles of heaven", as well as having many non-offensive curse words. Contemporary Finnish profanity often has old origins; many words have Pagan roots that, after Christian influence, were turned from names of deities and spirits to profanity and used as such. In general, the etymology of Finnish swears can be traced either from these formerly religious words or from ancient Finnish words involving excretion or sexual organs or functions. In context of other Nordic countries, Finns rank second, behind Sweden, when it comes to frequency of using profanity. A list of Finnish profanity has been compiled in Suuri kirosanakirja ("the great dictionary of profanities").

List of notable Finnish profanities

helvetti

hitto, hiisi

huora

jumalauta

kikkeli

kusi

kyrpä

molo

mulkku

muna

paska

perkele

perse

pillu

piru

reva

runkata

ryökäle

Saatana

skeida

vittu