mongrel

UK/ˈmʌŋ.ɡɹəl/US/ˈmɑŋ.ɡɹəl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

mongrel noun: a dog with a lineage of two or more breeds.

Noun

mongrel (plural mongrels)

(derogatory, often) A dog with a lineage of two or more breeds.
- That dog is a mongrel; who knows what breed it could be!
Synonyms:

bitsa, bitser, bitzer, cur, mutt, tyke, Heinz 57
(derogatory, ethnic, offensive, often, slur) A person of mixed race.
- The natives of Banda are very much mixed, and it is probable that at least three-fourths of the population are mongrels, in various degrees of Malay, Papuan, Arab, Portuguese, and Dutch. The first two form the bases of the larger portion, and the dark skins, pronounced features, and more or less...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 456
(Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang) A thuggish, obnoxious, or contemptible person; (often preceded by "poor") a pitiable person.
- "Yanto bloody Evans!" Jack stuttered with rage. "Yanto bloody Evans! That... that... bloody mongrel! D'you know who he is? He's the one who knocked me back for a bit of extra timber before the roof fell in on me!"2008, Jim Brigginshaw, Over My Dead Body, page 77
- But somebody's got to tell these mums and dads why their kids died, why this mongrel thinks he can wipe them out like a dirty rag.2019 October 27, Natalie Wolfe, “Australia's worst serial killer's affairs with sisters-in-laws”, in New Zealand Herald
Synonyms:

bastard
(Australia, slang) An erect penis; an erection.

Adjective

mongrel (not comparable)

Of mixed breed, nature, or origin; of or like a mongrel.
- English spelling is often regarded as confusing and unpredictable due to the mongrel nature of that language.
- a mongrel dog

mongrel meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

mongrel in Hindi

someone of mixed kind: दोग़ला doġlā

mongrel in Tamil

கலப்புப்பிறப்பு, குறிப்பிட்ட இனப்பண்புகளற்ற, குறிப்பிட்ட இனவகையைச் சாராதது

mongrel in Urdu

someone of mixed kind: دوغْلَا doġlā

mongrel in Bengali

সংকর জাতের প্রাণী, বর্ণসংকর

More languagesFewer languages

mongrel in Malayalam: സങ്കരവർഗ്ഗമായ, സങ്കര ജാതിയായ, സമ്മിശ്രമായ
mongrel in Kannada: ಅಡ್ಡಜಾತಿಯ ನಾಯಿ, ಇಬ್ಬಂದಿನಾಯಿ, ಬೆರಕೆನಾಯಿ, ಅಡ್ಡ ತಳಿಯ ನಾಯಿ
mongrel in Arabic: هَجِين hajīn
mongrel in Thai: พันทาง pan-taang

Synonyms of mongrel

All synonyms of mongrel

Forms of mongrel

plural	mongrels

Origin of mongrel

From Middle English mongrel, equivalent to mong (“mixture”) + -rel (pejorative diminutive); from Old English ġemang (“mingling”) (whence Modern English among), from Proto-Germanic *mang- (“mix; mixture”).

Words formed from mongrel

Questions about mongrel

What does mongrel mean?: Mongrel means a dog with a lineage of two or more breeds.
What is mongrel in Hindi?: Mongrel in Hindi is दोग़ला (doġlā). See Mongrel meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is mongrel?: Mongrel can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce mongrel?: Mongrel is pronounced /ˈmʌŋ.ɡɹəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of mongrel?: The plural of mongrel is mongrels.

Words near mongrel in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: mongrel (page history and authors); mongrel (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mongrel (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mongrel (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); mongrel (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-mongrel.wav, en-au-mongrel.ogg.

Cite this entry: “mongrel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mongrel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.