bad
/bæd/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.53 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of low quality.
adj
adj
Unfavorable; negative; not good.
adj
Not appropriate, of manners etc.
adj
The injured or weak one of a pair of body parts, where the other one is healthy.
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), or at least related to it and/or to bǣ̆dan (“to defile”), compare Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”). Alternatively, perhaps a loan from Old Norse into Middle English, compare Norwegian bad (“effort, trouble, fear”, neuter noun), East Danish bad (“damage, destruction, fight”, neuter noun), from the Proto-Germanic noun *badą, whence also Proto-Germanic *badōną (“to frighten”), Old Saxon undarbadōn (“to frighten”), Norwegian Nynorsk bada (“to weigh down, press”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to bend, press, push, oppress”). False cognate of Persian بد (bad).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰedʰ-, bad, bæddel, -, bæd
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bæd/
- British English: /bæd/
Usage
- Informal
- Slang
- American usage
- Colloquial
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Archaic
- British usage
Inflected Forms
worse (comparative)
badder (comparative, nonstandard)
more bad (comparative, nonstandard)
worst (superlative)
baddest (nonstandard, superlative)
most bad (nonstandard, superlative)
badder (comparative)
more bad (comparative)
baddest (superlative)
most bad (superlative)
bads (plural)
bads (present, singular)