What is "minced oath"

n. A type of euphemism based on a profanity that has been altered to reduce or remove the disagreeable or objectionable characteristics of the original expression.

A minced oath is a euphemistic expression formed by misspelling, mispronouncing, or replacing a part of a profane, blasphemous, or taboo term to reduce the original term's objectionable characteristics. Some examples include gosh, darn, dang, crud, and heck, as well as those for stronger swear words such as shiznit and fudge.

Many languages have such expressions. In the English language, nearly all profanities have minced variants.