Meanings
alternative pitooey · alternative ptew · alternative ptooey · alternative ptooie
- The sound of spitting.
I wake up and spit three times against the evil eye. Ptui, ptui, ptui. A dream. And fall asleep.
1974, Irving Howe, Eliezer Greenberg, Yiddish stories, old and new1 more example
She would go 'Ptui! Ptui! Ptui!' and seem to reinforce her curses (in a language as colourful as that of the boys') by stamping on her own spittle.
1991, Anne Siew Kim Lim, Face to face: the street children of Bukit Ho Swee
Origin
Imitative. But there is also the Ancient Greek πτύω, to spit, which is in Mark 7:33
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اتفو
- اتفوsound of spitting
Chinese Mandarin 呸
- 呸 (pēi)sound of spitting
Finnish pthyi
- pthyisound of spitting
French ptui
- ptuisound of spitting
Greek φτου
- φτου (ftou)sound of spitting
Hebrew טפו, טפי
- טפו (tfu)sound of spitting
- טפי (tfi)sound of spitting
Indonesian cuih
- cuihsound of spitting
Japanese ぺっと
- ぺっと (petto)sound of spitting
Korean 퉤
- 퉤 (twe)sound of spitting
Polish tfu
- tfusound of spitting
Russian тьфу
- тьфу (tʹfu)sound of spitting
Tamil தூ
- தூ (tū)sound of spitting
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ptui. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ptui
“ptui.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ptui. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ptui,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ptui.
Source: ptui on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.