mongrel

American  

[muhng-gruhl, mong-] / ˈmʌŋ grəl, ˈmɒŋ- /

noun

• mongrels
  plural

1. a dog of mixed or indeterminate breed.

   Synonyms:

   mutt

2. any animal or plant resulting from the crossing of different breeds or varieties.

   Synonyms:

   half-breed, cross

   Antonyms:

   purebred, thoroughbred

3. any cross between different things, especially if inharmonious or indiscriminate.

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adjective

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

mongrel British  

/ ˈmʌŋɡrəl /

noun

1. a plant or animal, esp a dog, of mixed or unknown breeding; a crossbreed or hybrid

2. taboo a person of mixed race

3. sport toughness and physical aggression

   a tall southpaw with plenty of mongrel

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adjective

1. of mixed origin, breeding, character, etc

Usage

What does mongrel mean? The word mongrel is most commonly used to refer to a dog that’s a mix of breeds or whose breed is unknown. It’s used in the same way as the word mutt, and, like mutt, can be negative or ironically affectionate.  However, mongrel is also a racist slur applied to people who are considered to be or who identify as mixed-race. The racist slur half-breed is used in the same way. Even when it’s applied to a person without regard to race, mongrel can still carry racist connotations, namely the implication that such a person’s behavior is like that of people whom racists consider inferior. Less commonly, mongrel is applied to animals other than dogs (and other living things, like plants) to indicate that they are a result of crossbreeding. It has traditionally also been used in more general ways (as both a noun and an adjective) in reference to anything that’s the result of combining multiple unlike sources, as in English is a mongrel language. Such uses are usually derogatory, implying that such things are impure or deficient. The word hybrid is a neutral way to describe plants and animals that are a result of crossbreeding or, in the case of nonliving things, some kind of combination.

Synonym Usage

See hybrid.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mongrelism
  noun
• mongrelness
  noun
• mongrelly
  adjective
• mongrelly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mongrels
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mongrel

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English (once): heraldic term for a type of dog; equivalent to mong(e) “mixture” ( Old English gemang; cf. mingle) + -rel

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Explanation

Some people have purebred dogs, but you might have a mongrel — a mutt that is part this, part that, and part the other thing (but to you he's a 100 percent dog and your best friend). Mongrel has the Middle English root word mong, which meant "mix." If you use the word mongrel to refer to the mixed ancestry of a dog or other animal, you may or may not intend to be insulting. If you refer to a human as a mongrel, you are definitely making a pejorative comment about that person's origins. In this use, it is considered an insult.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mongrel mongrels

After that, the party kicked him to the curb like an unwanted mongrel.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2026

The mongrel called Mona escaped from its pet carrier on the way to a plane, running off across the runway in Buenos Aires, pursued by three vans.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025

England will need their inner mongrel in Australia, Stokes included.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025

Whether it’s her notation of Archie’s blokish colloquialisms, Clara’s Anglo-Jamaican patois, the banter of two ancient Jamaican grouches or of second-generation Bengali teenagers, the mongrel texture of metropolitan life rises vividly from the page.

From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021

“He’s not dumb, Dad,” Matt answered, offended, petting the sleeping head of a black mongrel dog in the back seat.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

But Fish and Wildlife did not police the domestic exchange of most captive-bred tigers until 2016, because they were considered mongrels with no conservation value.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 12, 2019

Emily Mortimer’s character in “Lovely and Amazing” keeps adopting ragged mongrels, until finally one bites her in the face.

From The New Yorker ● Jul. 30, 2018

We drew a small crowd of local spectators: Workmen, sea gulls and neighborhood mongrels watched quizzically as we tried on life jackets and adjusted our kayaks’ seats and rudders.

From New York Times ● May 16, 2018

We’re mongrels in how we muse, how we speak, what we believe, who we are.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 14, 2017

At a respectably subordinate distance behind Joseph came the women of Galilee, mixed in with a motley, perhaps gate-crashing crowd of mourners, spectators, children, and no less than three frisky, impious mongrels.

From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger

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