turdn.

Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch, Dutch tort < a Germanic base of uncertain origin, perhaps a weak past participle of the Germanic base of tear v.¹ Compare ( < the same Germanic base) early modern German zorten to defecate (16th cent.) and German regional (Bavaria and Austria) Zort dung (19th cent. or earlier; either cognate with the nouns above or a secondary formation < the verb).The Germanic base is also reflected in the Old English compound tordwifel (in an isolated attestation: see quot. eOE at Compounds 1), cognate with or formed similarly to early modern Dutch tortwevel (1588 in Kiliaan), Old Icelandic tordýfill , Norwegian tordivel , Old Swedish tordyvil (Swedish tordyvel ), Old Danish thorthifil , all denoting kinds of dung beetle ( < the Germanic base of turd n. + the Germanic base of weevil n.); it is further reflected in the derivative treddle n. and the Germanic forms cited at that entry. Usage. The N.E.D. (1915) comment on this entry, ‘Not now in polite use’, remains broadly true: the word appears to have fallen out of use in literary and standard use in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and is now not generally acceptable in more formal contexts. In informal use it is more common, and in literal contexts it is generally regarded as no more than mildly vulgar, and probably less so than (e.g.) shit or crap. By contrast, use in descriptions of people is usually derogatory and typically regarded as offensive. For the sake of euphemism the word is sometimes written with asterisks, dashes, etc., to represent suppressed letters.