faggot

Meaning

Noun

1. (Ireland, UK, collective) A bundle of sticks or brushwood intended to be used for fuel tied together for carrying. (Some sources specify that a faggot is tied with two bands or withes, whereas a bavin is tied with just one.)
2. (obsolete) Burdensome baggage.
3. A bundle of pieces of iron or steel cut off into suitable lengths for welding.
4. (dated, rare) A burning or smouldering piece of firewood.
5. (Ireland, UK) A meatball made with offcuts and offal, especially pork. (See Wikipedia.)
6. (offensive, vulgar) A gay man, especially an effeminate one.
7. (broadly, offensive, vulgar) A non-heterosexual man.
8. (Canada, US, derogatory, offensive, vulgar) A man considered weak, effeminate, timid, pathetic, emotional, non-heteronormative in some way.
9. (Canada, US, derogatory, offensive, vulgar) An annoying or inconsiderate person.
10. (Ireland, UK, colloquial, dated, derogatory, offensive) A shrewish woman.
11. (obsolete, offensive, possibly) A soldier numbered on the muster roll, but not really existing.
12. (Ireland, UK, historical, offensive, possibly) A faggot voter.
13. (Ireland, UK, dated, offensive, slang) A lazy, weak, work-shy person.

Verb

Alternative form of fagot.

Synonyms

fagot

fag

queer

fairy

🧚

poof

gay

homo

homosexual

pansy

queen

👸

bundle of sticks

bunch

bundle

truss

sheaf

motherfucker

nancy boy

invert

nance

nancy

poofter

poove

pouf

raver

sod

faggot up

faget

bale

shit-ass

shithead

shitstick

sodomite

stack

swad

torch

firewood

wisp

brushwood

male homosexual

mother-fucker

bundle of firewood

bunch of sticks

shirtlifter

fag

bind up

parcel

man-whore

poof

banana crammer

package

📦

Translations

pédé

frocio

🇩🇪

checca

🧚

maricón

Schwuchtel

finocchio

culattone

fagot

gay

tapette

flikker

Schwuler

πούστης

tante

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈfæ.ɡət/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: fagot

Cognate with Old Provençal: fagot

Cognate with Italian: fagotto

Cognate with Spanish: fajo

Cognate with English: fowl

In summary

From Middle English fagot, from Old French fagot (“bundle of sticks”), of uncertain origin. Unlikely from Old Occitan fagot or Italian fagotto, as these appear later than the Old French term. Compare also Italian fangotto and Spanish fajo (“bundle, wad”). Perhaps from a diminutive of Vulgar Latin *facus, from Ancient Greek φάκελος (phákelos, “bundle of wood”).
The senses relating to persons, though possibly originating as an extension of the sense "bundle of sticks", may have been reinforced by faygele, from Yiddish פֿייגעלע (feygele, “homosexual”, literally “little bird”), related to English fowl.