baseborn

adjectiveC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Baseborn means born of low or illegitimate birth. A baseborn son, called him baseborn, baseborn and landless.

It is archaic and belongs to historical writing, where the insult carried real legal weight, since illegitimacy barred inheritance. The base in it means low in rank rather than wicked.

Definitions of baseborn

1adjectivebasebornBorn of low or illegitimate birth.C2
“The baseborn son of the king could never inherit the throne.”

baseborn is a state.

Where it comes from

Base, in the old sense of low in rank, plus born, from Old French bas, low, from Latin bassus.

From base + born.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

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