mad
/ˈmæːd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.74 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
Colloquial
Example Sentences
- "You want to spend a thousand pounds on a pair of shoes? Are you mad?"
- "He's got this mad idea that he's irresistible to women."
- "I have heard my grandsire say full oft, / Extremity of griefs would make men mad."
- "Sometimes, I feel sure he is as mad as a hatter; and then, just as he is at his maddest, I find there is method in his madness."
- "Dr. Manuel: Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!"
- "Are you mad at me?"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Germanic *ga- Proto-West Germanic *ga- Old English ġe- Proto-Indo-European *mey-? Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- Proto-Indo-European *moyth₂-éye-tider. Proto-Germanic *maidijanąder. Old English *mǣdan Old English ġemǣdan, ġemǣded Middle English mad English mad From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: mad, ġemǣd, *maidijaną, *maidaz, *mey-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmæːd/
Usage
- British usage
- American usage
- Informal
- Colloquial
- Slang
- Intransitive verb
- Obsolete
- Countable