Doggerel
/ˈdɒɡ.ər.əl/noun
Comic, awkward, or crudely written verse, often intentionally so.
Did you know?Doggerel is probably related to an old word for a shabby or worthless person, so the insult was baked into the sound before the poetry even started.
Etymological Timeline
Late Middle English
English
doggerel
“Awkward or inferior verse”
Middle English
English
doggere
“A contemptible or worthless fellow; something coarse or mean”
Old French
French
doguerel / doguerel
“A rough, trivial, or low-grade thing or person (attested in later medieval usage)”
Germanic
Proto-Germanic
*dukkō / *dukkaz
“A term for a dog or a low, rough, or contemptible creature (uncertain reconstruction)”