What does fagot mean?
Fagot refers most fundamentally to a bundle of sticks or twigs tied together, classically gathered for use as firewood. In metallurgy, the same word names a bundle of iron bars that are heated and hammered together into a single mass during forging, and in needlework it survives in the term fagoting, an open decorative seam joining two pieces of fabric. The word entered English from Old French, ultimately deriving from Latin fascis, meaning a bundle, which also gave English fasces and fascia. Today fagot is comparatively rare outside technical contexts, with American usage favoring this spelling over the British faggot. Because the latter spelling is widely known as an offensive slur, writers should be deliberate when using either form, though fagot itself retains only these neutral, literal meanings.
A bundle of sticks or twigs bound together, especially for use as fuel; also, a bundle of iron bars to be welded and forged as one piece.
"The workers stacked each fagot neatly beside the furnace."
In metallurgy the plural is typically fagots; the word is largely historical or technical in modern use.
To bind or make up into a bundle; in needlework, to join two pieces of fabric with an open decorative seam (fagoting); in metallurgy, to weld bars into a single fagot.
"She fagoted the edges of the lace panels with delicate openwork stitching."
Standard regular plural; occasionally spelled faggots in British sources.
"The hearth was stocked with fagots enough to last the winter."
Before it was anything else, a fagot was simply the humble bundle of sticks that kept the fire going — and it gave its name both to a sewing stitch and to a welding process.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fagot
Fagot comes from Old French fagot, meaning a bundle of sticks, likely borrowed from Italian dialect forms related to Latin fascis, a bundle or pack. It entered Middle English around the late medieval period, originally denoting firewood bundles before extending by analogy to bundles of iron bars in forging and to openwork seams in sewing. Its Latin root also produced fasces, the Roman symbol of authority, and the modern word fascia.
Related word forms
How fagot is actually used
This spelling is now relatively uncommon; "faggot" is the more frequent form in British English, while American English tends toward "fagot" in technical senses such as metallurgy and needlework. The word should be handled with care because of its strongly offensive modern slang homograph.
Easily confused with fagot
Fagot is chiefly an older or American spelling referring to a bundle of sticks or iron, while faggot carries the same original senses but is far more strongly associated with the British slang sense as a derogatory slur for a gay man.