Hybrid

How to spell hybrid

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce hybrid

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hybrid mean?

1. nounSomething produced by combining two different elements, breeds, or kinds.
2. adjectiveMade up of, or combining, two or more different elements or systems.

Hybrid in a sentence

• noun

  The new hybrid runs on both petrol and electricity.

• adjective

  The company adopted a hybrid work model split between home and office.

• noun

  This rose is a hybrid bred from two older varieties.

• adjective

  Engineers fitted the boat with a hybrid engine.

Where does hybrid come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin hybrida (also spelled ibrida), which originally named the offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar, and by extension any animal or person of mixed parentage. The Romans used it pointedly for children of a Roman parent and a foreigner, so the idea of 'mixed stock' was there from the start. English picked it up in the early 1600s, at first mainly in writing about plant and animal breeding, before it broadened to mean any thing made by combining two different kinds. There is a long-standing suggestion that the Latin form was influenced by the unrelated Greek hubris, meaning 'insolence' or 'outrage', which may explain why some older texts spell it with a 'y'; that 'y' for the short 'i' sound is exactly the spot where modern writers go wrong. Today the same root drives everyday talk of hybrid cars and hybrid working, but the 'y' before the 'b' is still the trap to watch.

How the word is built

• hybrid (from Latin hybrida: offspring of mixed parentage); no affixes, a single borrowed root