mongrel

Of mixed breed, nature, or origin; of or like a mongrel.

Adjective

  1. Of mixed breed, nature, or origin; of or like a mongrel.
    • English spelling is often regarded as confusing and unpredictable due to the mongrel nature of that language.
    • a mongrel dog
    • America is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion, the notion that all men are created equal, though everyone knows that most men consider themselves...

Origin

From Middle English mongrel, equivalent to mong (“mixture”) + -rel (pejorative diminutive); from Old English ġemang (“mingling”) (whence Modern English among), from Proto-Germanic *mang- (“mix; mixture”).

Noun

  1. Anything of mixed kind.
    • That dog is a mongrel; who knows what breed it could be!

    Synonyms: bitsa bitser bitzer cur mutt tyke Heinz 57

    1. A dog with a lineage of two or more breeds.

    2. (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of mixed race.

      • The natives of Banda are very much mixed, and it is probable that at least three-fourths of the population are mongrels, in various degrees of Malay, Papuan, Arab, Portuguese, and Dutch. The first two form the bases of...
  2. A thuggish, obnoxious, or contemptible person; (often preceded by "poor") a pitiable person.
    • "Yanto bloody Evans!" Jack stuttered with rage. "Yanto bloody Evans! That... that... bloody mongrel! D'you know who he is? He's the one who knocked me back for a bit of extra timber before the roof fell in on me!" -...
    • But somebody's got to tell these mums and dads why their kids died, why this mongrel thinks he can wipe them out like a dirty rag. - 2019 October 27, Natalie Wolfe, “Australia's worst serial killer's affairs with...

    Synonyms: bastard

  3. An erect penis; an erection.

Forms

mongrels

Related

among

Derived

mongreldom mongrelhood mongrelisation mongrelise mongrelish mongrelism mongrelity mongrelization mongrelize mongrelly mongrelness