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• faggot •

Pronunciation: fæ-gêt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A bundle of switches or twigs bound together to be used as fuel or kindling; a bundle of anything. 2. The stake at which women were burned as witches. 3. (Offensive) A disparaging term for "woman". 4. (Offensive) A disparaging term for male homosexuals.

Notes: First, this word may be spelled with the double G or not; fagot is as good a spelling as faggot. The adjective, faggoty "like a faggot", may be used in all the above senses of faggot. However, be careful: it is primarily used in the fourth sense. Faggoteer we may use worry-free; it can only mean one who puts together faggots in the first sense.

In Play: Since we seldom heat our homes with a wood fire on the hearth, the first meaning has receded into disuse. Occasionally, it emerges in the first sense above expanded: "Sal McGundy can always be relied upon to season her stew with a faggot of well-selected herbs." Of course, we don't burn women at the stake any more for their eccentricities.

Word History: Middle English borrowed this word from Old French fagot, probably from Vulgar (street) Latin facus, from Classical Latin fascis "bundle (of wood)". By the time this word reached Italian as fascio, its meaning had migrated to simply "group". Fascismo "fascism" was then derived from this otherwise innocent word. The stakes at which we once burned heretics and witches, were piled high with faggots of sticks. This led to the association of faggots with burning at the stake. Women (witches) who recanted were forced to wear an embroidered figure of a faggot on their sleeve. This led to the association of faggots with bad women. It was only a hop, skip, and a jump to the fourth meaning. It seems that Latin fascis was doomed inescapably to an inglorious fate. (Lew Jury has now set a record: he has suggested a word that I can't use in my grateful acknowledgement of his contribution.)

Sounds weird but in context, Doc:
"A faggot of joy and gratefulness to Lew Jury".

Or we could light a faggot of warm praise for Mr Jury.

Now I understand the British "fag" for cigarette. A (wrapped) bundle of dried leaves.

Now I understand the British "fag" for cigarette. A (wrapped) bundle of dried leaves.

Thanks, I did not catch that meaning either.
Every day we learn something new.

Or we could light a faggot of warm praise for Mr Jury.

I like yours better than mine. Congratulations, I did not
give it much thought. (As per usual).

The meaning that brought this word to Len Jury's mind and that was behind his submitting it was the popular meatballs made of swine offal in midland England and Wales. I was pounded by our subscribers living in those parts today for omitting mention of it. I will give serious consideration to rewriting this word and including this definition for the archives.

My mum's least favourite job as a school holiday earner was working at the Brains Faggots factory in Bristol. The odour apparently left something to be desired, when exposed to it for significant periods of time. Not to mention being subjected to plenty of wayward gravy each shift.

Learned from the comments. I had thought offal referred to feces. Looked it up and found wider meaning.

Just thinking about it and then went in search of one:
the current 10 cent piece, the dime: it has a
faggot of sticks engraved on the back with a flame
on top of the faggot.

NEVER heard this word used as a disparaging word for women (Definition 3). Interesting. I've heard it used all the other ways. I've also heard the word fag used as the British word for cigarette. Glad to know there's more meanings than just the disparaging ones.