A quick search shows it’s just a person born out of wedlock. You might talk of ‘bastard sons’, and it’s probably more common to talk of the bastard sons since they’re the ones that might try to claim legitimacy and overthrow your ‘legitimate’ sons, but it seems to apply to both.
Sexist? Bastard isn’t gendered, right?
It isn’t? I thought bastard was an illegitimate son? So male by definition?
A quick search shows it’s just a person born out of wedlock. You might talk of ‘bastard sons’, and it’s probably more common to talk of the bastard sons since they’re the ones that might try to claim legitimacy and overthrow your ‘legitimate’ sons, but it seems to apply to both.