Drat/dratted

The seemingly mild exclamation drat has an interesting origin in that since the late 16th century it was used in the form of Od rot, which was a minced oath, a disguised form of God rot, usually directed at whoever one wanted God to rot. Over the centuries, Od rot morphed into odrot and then into odrat. By the early 19th century, it had become today’s familiar drat, together with its adjectival form dratted. It is good to know, therefore, when we innocently use the word dratted, we are, etymologically speaking, describing someone or something as God rotten.