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Mutt can now be used with either affection or disdain to refer to a dog that is not purebred, but in the word's early history, in the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century, it could also be used to describe a person—and not kindly: mutt was another word for "fool." The word's history lies in another insult. It comes from muttonhead, another Americanism that also means essentially "fool." Muttonhead had been around since the early 19th century but it was not unlike an older insult with the same meaning: people had been calling one another "sheep's heads" since the mid-16th century.
Examples of mutt in a Sentence
David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2025
The phrase has become shorthand for a kind of national inferiority syndrome—a sense that Brazil, despite its grand ambitions and global flair, thinks of itself as a mutt trying to hang with pedigrees.
—Shannon Sims, New Yorker, 30 July 2025
As an adult, Superman was able to rescue his dog from the Phantom Zone, and the mutt gained superpowers under the yellow sun.
—James Grebey, Time, 10 July 2025
First seen barreling toward the camera at speeds only the most brazen digital effects house could estimate, this mutt runs like the wind and pounces like an anvil with hairy legs and a neat red cape.
—Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for mutt
Cite this Entry
“Mutt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutt. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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