faggot

¹ American  

[fag-uht] / ˈfæg ət /

noun

Slang.

1. Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a gay person, especially a gay man.

2. Offensive. a contemptible or dislikable person.

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faggot ² American  

[fag-uht] / ˈfæg ət /

noun

British.

1. fagot.

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faggot ¹ British  

/ ˈfæɡət /

noun

1. a bundle of sticks or twigs, esp when bound together and used as fuel

2. a bundle of iron bars, esp a box formed by four pieces of wrought iron and filled with scrap to be forged into wrought iron

3. a ball of chopped meat, usually pork liver, bound with herbs and bread and eaten fried

4. a bundle of anything

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verb

1. to collect into a bundle or bundles

2. needlework to do faggoting on (a garment, piece of cloth, etc)

faggot ² British  

/ ˈfæɡət /

noun

1. Often shortened to: fag.  slang a male homosexual

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Sensitive Note

The terms faggot and fag are both used with disparaging intent and are perceived as highly insulting. However, faggot (but not fag ) is sometimes used within the gay community as a positive term of self-reference.

Other Word Forms

• faggotty adjective
• faggoty adjective

Etymology

Origin of faggot

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15; perhaps from faggot, a chiefly British contemptuous term for a woman; perhaps the same word as fagot

Explanation

Faggot is an offensive slang term for a gay man. Though it originally (and more harmlessly) meant "a bundle of sticks," the word faggot should be used very carefully or avoided completely. Faggot is an extremely offensive word for a homosexual (gay) man. This is word that has been used to make gay men ashamed of themselves. It may be hard to believe, but faggot also means to tie or bind together, especially a bunch of sticks. It's safe to say the insulting meaning of this word has caused other meanings to become rare.

Example Sentences

It became clear to me that something larger was happening in cosmopolitan LGBTQ+ communities: queer men were reclaiming faggot.

From The Guardian • Mar. 9, 2020

Before heading for the scree slope, they’d each gathered a faggot of firewood, and prepared a little piece of fire to bring with them.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Picking up a faggot he held it aloft for a moment, and then with a word of command, naur an edraith ammen! he thrust the end of his staff into the midst of it.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

I had singed mine, too, with a faggot, but now it had grown long again and came to my waist.

From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

He was the very man for fire and faggot; a mediæval inquisitor would have had no more doubt about him than a materialist or “theophilanthropist” of his own day or of ours.

From William Blake A Critical Essay by Swinburne, Algernon Charles