bastard

Meanings

Noun

• A person who was born out of wedlock, and hence often considered an illegitimate descendant.
• A mongrel .
• A contemptible, inconsiderate, overly or arrogantly rude or spiteful person.
• A man, a fellow, a male friend.
• A person deserving of pity.
• A child who does not know his or her father.
• Something extremely difficult or unpleasant to deal with.
• A variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin, fake or counterfeit.
• A bastard file.
• A sweet wine.
• A sword that is midway in length between a short-sword and a long sword; also bastard sword.
• An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from syrups that have been boiled several times.
• A large mould for straining sugar.
• A writing paper of a particular size.

Adjective

• Of or like a bastard .
• Of or like a bastard .
• Of or like a mongrel, bastardized creature/cross.
• Of abnormal, irregular or otherwise inferior qualities .
• Spurious, lacking authenticity: counterfeit, fake.
• imperfect; not spoken or written well or in the classical style; broken.
• Very unpleasant.
• Abbreviated, as the half title in a page preceding the full title page of a book.
• Consisting of one predominant color blended with small amounts of complementary color; used to replicate natural light because of their warmer appearance.

Interjection

• Exclamation of strong dismay or strong sense of being upset.

Verb

• To bastardize.

Related

Opposite words

• legitimate

Origin

• From Middle English bastard, bastarde, from Anglo-Norman bastard, from Frankish *bāst (probably via Medieval Latin bastardus; compare Middle Dutch bast) and derogatory suffix -ard, from Proto-Germanic *banstuz (compare West Frisian boask, boaste), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ-; or equivalent to bast + -ard. Cognate with French bâtard, West Frisian bastert, Dutch bastaard, German Bastard, Icelandic bastarður. Probably originally referred to a child from a polygynous marriage of heathen Germanic custom — a practice not sanctioned by the Christian churches. Related to boose.
• Alternatively, the Old French form may originate from the term fils de bast, meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (medieval saddles often doubled as beds while traveling).