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naibă
the devil (used in curses and exclamations like "what the hell") /ˈnaj.bə/
noun#129 most common
Also: hell (in exclamations), the deuce, the dickens
Example sentences
Ce naiba e asta?
What the hell is this?
Unde naiba ai pus telefonul?
Where the hell did you put the phone?
Du-te la naiba!
Go to hell!
Cine naiba a mâncat ultima felie de tort?
Who the hell ate the last slice of cake?
Nu mai am nicio idee ce naiba se întâmplă cu proiectul ăsta.
I no longer have any idea what the hell is happening with this project.
S-a dus naibii toată munca noastră din ultimele luni, din cauza unei singure erori.
All our work from the past months went to hell because of a single mistake.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | naibă | - |
| Genitive | naibii | - |
| Accusative | naiba | - |
| Vocative | - | - |
Word family
naibathe devil; the form used in most curses, e.g. "la naiba"
naibiiused in "du-te naibii", go to hell
ce naibawhat the hell
la naibadamn it, to hell with it
Etymology
The origin of "naiba" is not settled. Romanian dictionaries list it as a word of unclear origin, not a direct inheritance from Latin. It likely arose as a folk euphemism for "dracul" (the devil), a way to name the devil without saying the more direct word. That taboo pattern, naming a feared thing indirectly, is common across languages, but the exact source of the form "naiba" itself is disputed.
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