Etymology 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”).
› Anything of mixed kind.
1
Derogatory, Often A dog with a lineage of two or more breeds.
That dog is a mongrel; who knows what breed it could be!
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 frizzly hair of the Papuans preponderates.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 456:
3
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:
Etymology 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”).
1
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
1 more example
America is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion, the notion that all men are created equal, though everyone knows that most men consider themselves better than someone.2001 September 26, Anna Quindlen, “A Quilt of a Country”, in Newsweek: