Fuck is an English-language profanity which often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to around 1475. In modern usage, the term fuck and its derivatives are used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an interjection or an adverb. There are many common phrases that employ the word as well as compounds that incorporate it, such as motherfucker, fuckwit, fuckwad, fuckup, fucknut, fuckhead, fuckface, fucktard, and fuck off.
A protester's sign using the word fuck on Tax March Day, April 15, 2017 in Washington, D.C. U.S.
"WTF?" spray painted on the rear of a Sherman tank left over from US military shelling practice on Flamenco Beach on the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico
Antifa rally at Berkeley protests on August 27, 2017
Profanity involves the use of notionally offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion, as a grammatical intensifier or emphasis, or to express informality or conversational intimacy. In many formal or polite social situations, it is considered impolite, and in some religious groups it is considered a sin. Profanity includes slurs, but there are many insults that do not use swear words.
Local law in Virginia Beach prohibiting the use of profanity along the boardwalk of Atlantic Avenue