Hybrid Comes From a Latin Word for a Mongrel Pig
A hybrid combines two different things. The Latin word specifically meant the offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar.
A hybrid is the offspring of two different species or varieties, and by extension anything combining two elements. The Latin *hybrida* was precise and agricultural: it meant the offspring of a domestic sow and a wild boar. The word broadened through botany in the nineteenth century, and technology took it in the twentieth.
- A cross between two species. *A hybrid plant.*
- A combination of two things. *A hybrid approach.*
- A vehicle with two power sources. *A hybrid car.*
- Hybrid working — splitting time between home and office. *A hybrid working policy.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | hybrid | A sterile hybrid. |
| Plural | hybrids | Garden hybrids. |
| Adjective | hybrid | Hybrid technology. |
| Verb | hybridise | Hybridise the strains. |
| Related | crossbreed | A crossbreed dog. |
How it is used in a sentence
- A mule is a hybrid.Horse and donkey.
- Hybrid vigour makes crosses stronger.Known as heterosis.
- Hybrid working became common after 2020.Employment.
Animal hybrids
- Mule — donkey father, horse mother; usually sterile
- Liger and tigon — lion and tiger crosses
- Zonkey — zebra and donkey
- Beefalo — cattle and bison
- Sterility — most mammal hybrids cannot reproduce, because chromosome numbers do not match
From Latin *hybrida*, the offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar, later broadened to any mixed origin.
Why are most hybrids sterile?
Because the parent species usually have different chromosome numbers, so the hybrid cannot form viable reproductive cells.
What is hybrid vigour?
The tendency of a cross between two different lines to be larger or hardier than either parent, also called heterosis.