Old English · noun
bæddel
- Part of speech
- noun, masculine
- Declension
- strong a-stem
- IPA
- /ˈbæd.del//ˈbæːd.del/
- Syllables
- ˈbæd · del (2 syllables)
- Modern English
- characteristicsorgansambiguoussexualeffeminate
Meaning
-
a person with ambiguous sexual organs or characteristics
-
an effeminate man
Declension
All forms (6)
Etymology
Uncertain. Seemingly cognate with Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”). Usually taken to be related to (an unattested Old English root of) Middle English badde (“wicked, wretched, bad”). Possibly related to Old English bædan (“to defile”) (although Fulk questions this, and the very existence of the verb has been called into question) and/or to Old English bædling (although the precise meaning of this word is uncertain and it has sometimes been suggested to derive from bedd instead).
Descendants
bad
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