To mend a hole in fabric by weaving thread across it, or as an exclamation, a mild substitute for 'damn'.
From French 'darner' meaning to piece together, ultimately from Breton 'darn' meaning piece or fragment. As an exclamation, it's a euphemistic alteration of 'damn' that emerged in American English in the 19th century.
Darning was once an essential household skill that could extend a garment's life for decades, creating beautiful geometric patterns that were almost artistic. The phrase 'darn it' reveals how creative humans get with euphemisms - we literally replaced profanity with a sewing term, showing how domestic activities shaped our language.
Mending/darning was gender-coded as women's domestic labor; the verb carries implicit association with gendered household work.
Use freely as mild expletive or for repair; contextually note that textile maintenance was women's unpaid labor.
Women's textile work—from mending to weaving—was skilled labor historically invisible in economic accounts.
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