Bastardizer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Someone who corrupts or degrades a thing, especially a language, text or product, by altering it into an inferior form
2. A person who debases or spoils something, often by adulterating it or changing its original character for the worse
3. One who corrupts a text, language, or original work, turning it into a degraded or inferior version of itself

Etymology: "Bastardizer" is simply "bastardize" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, meaning one who bastardizes. The suffix "-er" comes from Old English and has long been used to form nouns for people or things that perform an action, as in "baker" or "teacher." The verb it rests on, "bastardize," is itself built from "bastard," a word whose origin is uncertain. Its earliest English sense was a child born to unmarried parents, and the verb developed from there to mean to make something debased or corrupt, especially a language, text, or institution. A bastardizer, then, is someone who corrupts or debases something, such as an edited text, a dialect, or a tradition.

Synonyms: corrupter, debaser, adulterator

Antonyms: purifier, refiner