bastard

[ bas-terd ]

noun

1. a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.
2. Slang.
   1. a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person:

      Some bastard slashed the tires on my car.

   2. a person, especially a man:

      The poor bastard broke his leg.

3. something irregular, inferior, spurious, or unusual.
4. bastard culverin.

adjective

1. illegitimate in birth.
2. spurious; not genuine; false:

   The architecture was bastard Gothic.

   Synonyms: phony, irregular, sham, imperfect, imitation, fake

3. of abnormal or irregular shape or size; of unusual make or proportions:

   bastard quartz; bastard mahogany.

4. having the appearance of; resembling in some degree:

   a bastard Michelangelo; bastard emeralds.

5. Printing. (of a character) not of the font in which it is used or found.

bastard

/ ˈbæs-; ˈbɑːstəd /

noun

1. informal.
   an obnoxious or despicable person
2. informal.
   a person, esp a man

   lucky bastard

3. informal.
   something extremely difficult or unpleasant

   that job is a real bastard

4. old-fashioned.
   a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate baby, child, or adult
5. something irregular, abnormal, or inferior
6. a hybrid, esp an accidental or inferior one

adjective

1. old-fashioned.
   illegitimate by birth
2. irregular, abnormal, or inferior in shape, size, or appearance
3. resembling a specified thing, but not actually being such

   a bastard cedar

4. counterfeit; spurious

Derived Forms

• ˈbastardly, adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bastard¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English, from Anglo-French bastard, from Medieval Latin bastardus, perhaps ultimately from Germanic bāst-, bōst- (unrecorded) “marriage” + Old French -ard -ard, taken as signifying the offspring of a polygynous marriage to a woman of lower status, a pagan tradition not sanctioned by the church; compare Old Frisian bost “marriage,” bind; the traditional explanation of Old French bastard as derivative of fils de bast “child of a packsaddle” is doubtful on chronological and geographical grounds

Word History and Origins

Origin of bastard¹

C13: from Old French bastart , perhaps from bast in the phrase fils de bast son of the packsaddle (that is, of an unlawful and not the marriage bed), from Medieval Latin bastum packsaddle, of uncertain origin