dad
/dæd/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.95 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To act like a dad.
Example Sentences
- "His dad was always there for him."
- "A lot of the power for dads comes in the form of modeling. As much as dads can teach their sons directly and guide them in the world, they also provide an example of who their children can aim to be as they grow up, Singley said. “There are going to be the times when as the dad I’m going to screw up,” he said."
- "Happy Father's Day, dad!"
- "Dad told me to go out and mow the lawn."
- "Currently replaying in preparation for DAD, and the Josiemance is still as lovely as I remember."
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”), Swabian Dede (“Godfather”). * 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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dadde
Usage
Inflected Forms
dads (plural)
dadde (alternative, obsolete)
dads (present, singular)
dadding (participle, present)
dadded (participle, past)
dadded (past)
dod (alternative)
dodge (alternative)
dadge (alternative)