dad
Meanings
Plural: dads
Noun
- an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
- A father, a male parent.
- Used to address one's father; often capitalized.
- Used to address an older adult male.
- A lump or piece.
- A blow; act of striking something.
- Alternative form of daad (“Arabic letter ض”).
Verb
- To be a father to; to parent.
- To act like a dad.
- To throw against something; to dash.
Origin / Etymology
From Early Modern English dadd, dadde (circa 1500), undoubtedly older, from unrecorded Middle English *dadde, of uncertain ultimate origin. Compare West Frisian deite (“dad, daddy”).
* Perhaps of Celtic origin, compare Welsh and Breton tad (from Proto-Brythonic *tad), Old Irish data; and possibly related to Russian дя́дя (djádja, “uncle”) and/or Russian де́душка (déduška, “grandfather”), all imitative. In Welsh, when subject to soft mutation (which occurs in vocative contexts, among others), tad becomes dad.
* Perhaps imitative of a child's first uttered syllables da, da.
* Possibly from a metathetic variation of a hypothetical Old English *ætta, *atta (“father”), from Proto-West Germanic *attō, from Proto-Germanic *attô ("father, forefather"; whence also North Frisian ate, aatj, taatje, tääte (“father; dad”), Middle High German tate (“father, dad”) (whence German Tate (“dad”), Bavarian tatte (“dad”), Cimbrian tatta (“dad”)), Icelandic táta (“dad”)), from Proto-Indo-European *átta (“father”), whence Sanskrit तत (tata, “father”).
Synonyms
ayr, ba, baba, da, dad, Dad, dada, daddio, daddy, Father, father, fatherling, old man, pa, Pa, pap, papa, papaw, pappa, pappaw, pappy, Pappy, pater, patriarch, paw, pawpaw, peepaw, pepaw, Pop, pop, poppa, poppy, pops, sire
Scrabble Score: 5
dad is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL worddad is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
dad is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary