What does crossbred mean?
Crossbred describes an animal or plant produced by mating individuals from two or more distinct breeds, varieties, or lines. It functions as an adjective ('a crossbred ewe') and also serves as the past tense and past participle of the verb 'crossbreed'. The term is at home in agriculture and horticulture, where deliberate crossbreeding is used to combine desirable traits — vigour, yield, disease resistance, temperament — from each parental stock. A crossbred calf may grow faster than either parent breed; a crossbred rose may flower longer than its ancestors. In everyday talk about pets, English speakers more often say 'mixed-breed' or 'mongrel', reserving 'crossbred' mainly for livestock and cultivated plants. Its natural opposite is 'purebred' or 'thoroughbred', describing animals of a single documented lineage. Far from implying inferiority, 'crossbred' often signals intentional, science-guided breeding designed to capture what farmers call hybrid vigour, making it a neutral-to-positive term in its usual contexts.
(Of an animal or plant) produced by breeding individuals of different breeds, varieties, or species.
"They keep a small herd of crossbred dairy goats."
Standard in agricultural writing; 'mixed-breed' is preferred for companion animals.
Past tense and past participle of 'crossbreed': to have bred individuals of different breeds or varieties together.
"Farmers there crossbred local cattle with imported stock."
Nearly every modern beef cow you've ever eaten came from a crossbred line — purebreds are the exception on the farm, not the rule.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crossbred
The word combines 'cross', meaning to interbreed or hybridize — itself from Old Norse 'kross', ultimately from Latin 'crux' — with the past-tense form of 'breed', an ancient Germanic verb. Compound terms around crossbreeding developed alongside systematic livestock improvement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially in Britain. Related formations such as 'crossbreed' and 'crossing' share the same root.
Related word forms
How crossbred is actually used
Chiefly used in agricultural, veterinary, and horticultural contexts; for dogs and cats, 'mixed-breed' is more common in everyday speech, while 'crossbred' remains standard in livestock farming.
Easily confused with crossbred
'Crossbreed' is usually the verb (to breed across breeds) or a noun for such an animal, while 'crossbred' is the adjective describing something that has been crossbred.