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bastard

Pronunciation: /ˈbɑːs.təd/

The English word “bastard” has 20 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A person who was born out of wedlock, and hence often considered an illegitimate descendant.
  2. A mongrel (biological cross between different breeds, groups or varieties).
  3. A contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude or spiteful person.
  4. A man, a fellow, a male friend.
  5. A suffering person deemed deserving of compassion.
  6. A child who does not know their father.
  7. Something extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.
  8. A variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin, fake or counterfeit.
  9. A bastard file.
  10. A kind of sweet wine.
  11. A sword that is midway in length between a short-sword and a long sword; also bastard sword.
  12. An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from syrups that have been boiled several times.
  13. A large mould for straining sugar.
  14. A writing paper of a particular size.
  15. A Eurosceptic Conservative MP, especially in the government of John Major.

adjective

  1. Of or like a bastard (illegitimate human descendant).
  2. Of or like a bastard (bad person).
  3. Of or like a mongrel, bastardized creature/cross.
  4. Of abnormal, irregular or otherwise inferior qualities (size, shape etc).
  5. Spurious, lacking authenticity: counterfeit, fake.

Etymology

From Middle English bastard, bastarde, from Old English bastard (used as an epithet), from Anglo-Norman bastard, Old French bastart (“illegitimate child”), perhaps via Medieval Latin bastardus, of obscure origin. Likely from Frankish *bāst (“marriage, relationship”) + Old French -ard, -art (pejorative suffix denoting a specific quality or condition). Frankish *bāst derives from a North Sea…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.