the.com/mongrel

means An animal (or, by extension, anything) of mixed breed or uncertain origin, especially a dog with no single identifiable pedigree.

from Mongrel emerged in the 1500s, built from 'mong' or 'mang' — an old root meaning 'mix' or 'among,' the same seed that gave English 'among' and 'mingle' — plus the diminutive suffix '-rel,' which English liked to tack onto words to suggest something small or lesser (see also 'cockerel,' 'wastrel'). So the word was, from birth, a little insult baked into its own structure: 'a mixed-up little thing.' It spread quickly from dogs to describe any mixed or hybrid creature, and eventually anything of blended, hard-to-pin-down origin.