Hybrid describes the resulting offspring of two different plant or animal breeds or species. Hybrid may also refer to something composed of two different elements. A hybrid is a mixture. Hybrid may be used as a noun or an adjective, related words are hybridism, hybridity. The word hybrid comes from the Latin word hybrida meaning offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar, or mongrel.
Highbred describes the resulting offspring of superior quality breeding stock. Highbred also refers to someone descended from a socially superior family, or someone with impeccable manners. Highbred is a simple compound word that is rarely used.
Examples
Toyota is about to be richly rewarded for what seems, in retrospect, to be a corporate no-brainer: combining its expertise in hybrid drivetrains with buyers’ insatiable appetite for small crossover SUVs. (The Detroit Free Press)
Hybrid grills, such as the Char-Broil Gas2Coal Hybrid grill and the Dyna-Glo Dual Fuel hybrid grill, let you cook with both gas and charcoal. (Consumer Reports Magazine)
Taking two different types of corn and breeding them to get a hybrid is crossbreeding, she said. (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
A hybrid is made when someone intentionally crosses two varieties of tomatoes, each chosen for one or more important characteristics such as disease resistance, color, size or flavor. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Some U.S. states have banned animal-human hybrid research in recent years, but an attempt to do so in Kansas in the mid-2000s failed to gain traction, Ostrowski said. (The Wichita Eagle)
At the beginning of this year, it was revealed that scientists at the Salk Institute in California and the University of Minnesota had created hybrid embryos with the aim of growing human organs inside farm animals such as sheep and pigs. (The Daily Mail)