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

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

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

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

Bruce, "the rescue centre mongrel", sadly died from the tumour at the age of 12.

From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2024

Soviet scientists picked Laika, a stray mongrel found on the cold streets of Moscow.

From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2022

Take, for example, our mongrel Mitty, whose fondness for chasing sticks was obsessive.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2020

If our house was a dog it would be a rough little mongrel of a thing—not big, not fancy, not pretty.

From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge

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 ways that might not be obvious from a photograph.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 14, 2017

Although more than half of the dogs in the United States are mongrels, genetic studies tend to focus on pure-bred animals.

From Nature ● Jan. 25, 2016

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