Is a “Bastard” simply an illegitimate child (of either sex), or is it only an illegitimate male? I always thought it included illegitimates of either sex, yet I’ve never heard of a girl refered to as a bastard.
According to Mirram-Webster, a bastard is any illegitimate child. However, it’s also used as a generalized term of abuse for an offensive or disagreeable person. M-W online says that “Bitch” is a generalized term of abuse for females.
My WAG is that a “bastard” is the nearest male peer to a “bitch” - as far as terms of abuse go.
Oops!
Never trust anyone too lazy to correctly spell the name of the dictionary. It’s Merriam-Webster.
True bastards can be either gender. As a RL bastard, I should know.