misbegotten

Misbegotten is an adjective with two principal senses. It can refer to a person born of wedlock in older usage, meaning illegitimate or of questionable parentage. It can also describe something that is poorly conceived, designed, or planned, such as a misbegotten scheme or misbegotten idea. The connotation is strongly pejorative in either sense, signaling deficiency or disapproval.

Etymology: Formed by combining mis- with begotten, itself from Old English begietan or beget, meaning to father or produce offspring. The prefix mis- signals error or wrongness. Historically, the term applied to a child born to unmarried parents and carried social stigma; over time, it broadened to designate defective or ill-formed projects rather than people, especially in literary or rhetorical contexts.

Usage notes: The term is archaic or literary in modern speech. As a label for a person, it is generally insulting and inappropriate outside historical or fictional writing. For objects or plans, misbegotten emphasizes flawed origin or conception, rather than moral judgment.

Examples of usage: “a misbegotten heir” (historical or fictional contexts) or “a misbegotten venture that led to ruin.” In scholarly writing about genealogy or social history, misbegotten can appear in discussions of illegitimacy. It is less common in contemporary formal writing, where terms like illegitimate or ill-conceived are preferred.

Related terms include illegitimate, ill-conceived, ill-born.