Bomboclat is a strong swear word from Jamaican Patois. People use it to show anger, disgust or frustration, much like the F-word in English. Online it picked up a second life in 2019, when a meme spread the word far faster than its meaning. This page covers both, and why it is not a word to toss around.
What does bomboclat mean in Jamaican Patois?
Merriam-Webster marks the word as vulgar and mainly Jamaican. As a noun, it means a person you despise. As a describing word, it shows disgust or frustration, or it simply adds force to what comes next. The dictionary’s slang page calls it “a versatile Jamaican vulgarism” and says it works much like the F-word.
That means it is not a greeting and not a question. It can stand alone as a shout, the way an English speaker might swear after bad news. It can also sit in front of another word to make it stronger. Dictionary.com calls it one of the most common swear words in Jamaica and among speakers of Jamaican slang abroad.
What is the literal meaning of bomboclat?
The word is built from two parts. Merriam-Webster traces it to “bumbo,” a crude word for the vagina whose own origin is not certain, and “claat,” the Jamaican Creole form of “cloth.” Together they named a cloth used as a sanitary pad. Dictionary.com adds that it could also mean a cloth used as toilet paper.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang has the plain sanitary pad sense on record from 1956, taken from the Dictionary of Jamaican English. Its first example of the word as an insult or a shout is dated 1983. Merriam-Webster gives 1957 as its first known use as a describing word. So the swear is about seventy years old in writing, and that dictionary thinks it was spoken earlier still.
The same “claat” ending shows up in other Jamaican swear words. One is bloodclaat, which Green’s explains as the Jamaican way of saying “blood cloth.” Our list of Jamaican curse words explains more of them. All of them count as strong language.
Bomboclat, bumbaclot or bumboclaat: which spelling is right?
You will see the word spelled many ways, because the dictionaries do not agree on one form. Every spelling in the table points to the same word. Find the one you saw to check where it is used. None of them changes the meaning.
| Spelling | Where it is used |
|---|---|
| bomboclat | Main entry in Merriam-Webster |
| bomboclaat | Merriam-Webster variant, and the caption in the 2019 meme |
| bumboclaat | Merriam-Webster variant, also used by Dictionary.com |
| bumbaclot | Main entry on Dictionary.com, and the spelling in CBC’s 2014 report |
| bumbo-claat, bombo-claat, bumboklaat | Green’s Dictionary of Slang |
The sound is easier than the spelling. Merriam-Webster’s slang page writes it as bom-bo-clat, and Dictionary.com writes bohm-buh-clot. Either way it has three beats, with the stress on the first. Searches for “bombaclat” and “bumbaclot” are looking for this same word.
How did a Jamaican swear word become a meme?
The word reached outsiders in small steps over many years, and then all at once. Here are the dated moments we could confirm. Each line names where the date comes from. Notice how late the meme arrives.
- 1981: Peter Tosh releases the album Wanted Dread & Alive, and some editions include a song titled “Oh Bumbo Klaat,” according to the album’s Wikipedia page.
- 21 January 2014: CBC reports that Toronto mayor Rob Ford used the word at least four times in a video.
- 3 September 2019: Twitter user @rudebwoy_lamz posts two pictures of a character from the cartoon CatDog with the one-word caption “Bomboclaat,” as recorded by Know Your Meme.
- 5 October 2019: A tweet tells non-Jamaicans that the word is a swear, not a question. Know Your Meme later counted more than 3,800 likes on it.
- 21 October 2019: The Daily Dot publishes an explainer on how the word took the place of an earlier caption phrase.
Why did so many people get it wrong? Earlier in 2019, Twitter had been full of posts built around a made-up phrase, “sco pa tu manaa.” Dictionary.com traces that phrase to a verse by the Ghanaian musician Patapaa in a song put on YouTube on 3 April 2019. When the CatDog post took off, many users treated the new word the same way, as a caption that invited replies.
The Daily Dot reported that Jamaican users were quick to correct them. It quoted several who asked people to stop, and the person who posted the first picture joked about seeing the word misused. Merriam-Webster now lists a second, joking sense for something weird or excellent in memes. Our Gen Z slang list covers other words that spread through memes, but this one was a real swear first, and that meaning has not gone away.
Is it OK to say bomboclat?
Treat it like the F-word. Merriam-Webster warns that it can be very offensive. It adds that using the word with no thought for its Jamaican roots may be seen as culturally insensitive. So a non-Jamaican who drops it into a caption for fun is taking a real risk of sounding rude.
In Jamaica, swearing in public can even bring a fine. The Gleaner, a Jamaican newspaper, reported on 3 September 2023 that the Towns and Communities Act bans profane, indecent or obscene language in public places. The report gave the penalty as a fine of up to $1,500 or up to 30 days in jail. It also listed well-known performers who were charged for swearing on stage.
If someone sends the word to you, look at the setting. Under a funny picture, it is the meme use and nobody is mad. In an argument, it is a swear aimed at you or at the moment. Parents and teachers should read it as strong language either way, and it does not belong in school work or class chats.
If the same message has other Patois words you do not know, paste it into the Jamaican Slang Translator. It gives a plain English reading in a few seconds. Treat the result as a first guess, since the same Patois word can be spelled several ways, as the table above shows.
Can you tell bomboclat fact from myth?
The meme left a lot of wrong ideas behind. These four questions sort the facts from the myths. Tap an answer and a short note will show why it is right or wrong. All of it comes from the sections above.
1. True or false: bomboclat means “caption this.”
False. Bomboclat is a Jamaican Patois swear word. People only treated it as a caption prompt during the 2019 meme.
2. Going by the dictionaries, what did the word first name?
A cloth used as a sanitary pad. The two parts are “bumbo” and “claat,” the Jamaican Creole form of “cloth.”
3. Which English word is it closest to in strength?
The F-word. Merriam-Webster says bomboclat works much like it, so treat it as strong language.
4. A friend posts a funny photo with the single word “bomboclaat.” What is most likely going on?
They are copying the meme. Under a funny picture it is the joking online use, and nobody is mad.
Last checked: October 7, 2026.
