mongrelize

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to crossbreed plants or animals so that their offspring have mixed ancestry

   Uncontrolled pollination can mongrelize a carefully maintained strain of flowers.

2. 2
   verb

   to mix different kinds, styles, or sources into a heterogeneous whole

   Repeated borrowing can mongrelize a technical vocabulary over time.

Formed in English from mongrel + -ize in the seventeenth century. The biological sense means to produce mixed-breed offspring; later uses extended the idea to mixed languages, styles, or materials. Uses about human ancestry are now offensive and belong to racist historical vocabulary.

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