• Listen

  What it means

  Literally “chicken face,” this phrase is used as a mild, old-fashioned insult or expression of exasperation — roughly equivalent to calling someone a fool, a coward, or a silly person. It can also be used as a softened swear substitute, similar to saying “for crying out loud” in English. The ‘chicken’ imagery implies cowardice or stupidity. Today it is often used humorously or ironically rather than as a genuine insult.

  Vocabulary

  • kurza — hen's; of the chicken (adjective from 'kura')
  • twarz — face
  • kura — hen; chicken

  Grammar note

  The adjective 'kurza' is the feminine genitive/adjective form derived from 'kura' (hen), agreeing with 'twarz' (face), which is feminine. This is a noun phrase in the nominative case. It can stand alone as an exclamation or be used attributively to describe someone.

  Cultural context

  This expression belongs to older or regional Polish speech and has a somewhat archaic flavour today, which makes it sound comical when used by younger speakers. It is a 'safe' substitute for stronger language and is sometimes used by parents around children. Similar expressions include 'kurczę' (a euphemism for 'kurwa') and 'o rany' as polite expletives.

  Beginner

Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!