Frak is a fictional version of "fuck

Fuck

"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...

," "shit" or "damn" first used (with the spelling "frack") in the original Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)

Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...

 series. It continues to be used throughout different versions of the franchise as an expletive.

There are other uses, however: companies have adopted it as the name for commercial products, notably a computer game. It has also appeared in several other television shows such as Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros...

.

Etymology

'Frak' is a fictional version of "fuck," "shit" or "damn" first used (with the spelling "frack") in the original Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)

Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...

 series. In the "re-imagined" version, and subsequently in Caprica

Caprica (TV series)

Caprica is a science fiction drama television series. It is a spin-off prequel of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place about 58 years prior to the events of Battlestar Galactica. Caprica shows how humanity first created the robotic Cylons who would later plot to destroy humans in...

, it appears with greater frequency and with the revised spelling "frak", as the producers wanted to make it a four-letter word

Four-letter word

The phrase four-letter word refers to a set of English-language words written with four letters which are considered profane, including common popular or slang terms for excretory functions, sexual activity and genitalia, and sometimes also certain terms relating to Hell and damnation when used...

. In that framework it seems to function as a substitute for "fuck" in several different forms, as an interjection ("Frak!"), inquisitive idiom ("What the frak?"), verb ("You're not still frakking Dualla

Anastasia Dualla

Anastasia "Dee" Dualla, portrayed by Kandyse McClure, is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica.-Character history:...

, are you?"), adjective ("Get your motherfrakking hands off me!"), adverb ("You frakking crazy idiot!"), a noun ("You miserable frak"), ("A good frak"), (to Starbuck

Kara Thrace

Kara Thrace is a fictional character in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica franchise. Played by Katee Sackhoff, she is a revised version of Lieutenant Starbuck from the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series...

 "I guess a pity frak is out of the question") or in compound words ("What a clusterfrak."), ("Motherfrakker!"), or as almost every word in a sentence ("frak the frakking frakkers.").

Other uses

"Frak!

Frak!

Frak! is a 1980s computer game originally programmed by Orlando for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron and published by his own 'Aardvark' software label in 1984. The game was ported to the Commodore 64 the following year by 'The B Team'...

" was the title of a popular game released on the BBC Micro B

BBC Micro

The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...

 and Acorn Electron

Acorn Electron

The Acorn Electron is a budget version of the BBC Micro educational/home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd. It has 32 kilobytes of RAM, and its ROM includes BBC BASIC along with its operating system....

, and later the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

. The game saw the user controlling a caveman called Trogg, who had to navigate various maze-like scenarios and dispose of various deadly obstacles with his yo-yo

Yo-yo

The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...

. When coming into contact with such an obstacle or falling a substantial distance, Trogg would cry "Frak!" (via a speech balloon

Speech balloon

Speech balloons are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comic strips and cartoons to allow words to be understood as representing the speech or thoughts of a given character in the comic...

 that appeared over his head) before the user restarting the level.

"Frak" is used in the same sense as in Battlestar by characters in the early 21st century "Ciaphas Cain

Ciaphas Cain

The Ciaphas Cain series is a collection of science fiction novels set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. They center on the eponymous character, an Imperial Commissar of the Imperial Guard, and his varied and colorful career.-Novels:...

" series of Games Workshop Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop miniature wargame produced by Games Workshop, set in a dystopian science fantasy universe. Warhammer 40,000 was created by Rick Priestley in 1987 as the futuristic companion to Warhammer Fantasy Battle, sharing many game mechanics...

novels by Sandy Mitchell, probably an expression from the character's unknown birth world.

Fräck (spelled with the umlaut

Umlaut (diacritic)

The diaeresis and the umlaut are diacritics that consist of two dots placed over a letter, most commonly a vowel. When that letter is an i or a j, the diacritic replaces the tittle: ï....

 'ä') is also the product name of a shaving mirror produced by IKEA

IKEA

IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...

, a multinational home products retailer. Most IKEA product names are in Swedish, and fräck is the Swedish word for audacious, shameless or bold (while frack, without ä, would translate to tailcoat

Tailcoat

A tailcoat is a coat with the front of the skirt cut away, so as to leave only the rear section of the skirt, known as the tails. The historical reason coats were cut this way was to make it easier for the wearer to ride a horse, but over the years tailcoats of varying types have evolved into forms...

). In the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series, a mirror of this type is installed in the cabin of William Adama

William Adama

William "Bill" Adama is a fictional character portrayed by Edward James Olmos in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica television series...

.

The word is also a direct Battlestar Galactica reference in the Periphery

Periphery (band)

Periphery is an American metal band from Bethesda, Maryland , formed in 2005.- Formation and lineup changes :Periphery was formed by guitarist Misha Mansoor in 2005...

 song 'Frak the Gods'.

The word 'Frak' was also used by futuristic police officer John Cogan in "Back from the Future", an episode of 21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street

21 Jump Street is an American police procedural crime drama television series that aired on the Fox Network from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focused on a squad of youthful-looking undercover police officers investigating crimes in high schools,...

first aired in 1990.