father

father

synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples & translations of father in English

English Online Dictionary. What means father‎? What does father mean?

English

Etymology

    From Middle English fader, from Old English fæder, from Proto-West Germanic *fader, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr. Doublet of ayr, faeder, padre, pater, and père.

    Pronunciation

    • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fä'thə(r), IPA(key): /ˈfɑːðə(ɹ)/
    • (General American) enPR: fä'thər, IPA(key): /ˈfɑðɚ/
    • (General Australian) enPR: fä'thə, IPA(key): /ˈfɐːðə/
    • (Ireland, Canada, California, Western Pennsylvania, older New York City) enPR: fä'thə, IPA(key): /ˈfɒːðɚ/
    • (Indian) enPR: thə(r) IPA(key): /ˈfɑːd̪ə(r)/
    • (Geordie) enPR: thə IPA(key): /ˈfæðə/
    • (obsolete) enPR: thər, thər, IPA(key): /ˈfæðəɹ/, /ˈfeɪðəɹ/
    • Homophone: farther (in non-rhotic accents)
    • Hyphenation: fa‧ther
    • Rhymes: -ɑːðə(ɹ)

    Noun

    father (plural fathers)

    1. A (generally human) male who begets a child.
    2. A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
    3. A term of respectful address for an elderly man.
    4. A term of respectful address for a priest.
    5. A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
    6. A pioneering figure in a particular field.
    7. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
    8. Something inanimate that begets.
    9. (Christianity) A member of a church council.
    10. (computing) The archived older version of a file that immediately precedes the current version, and was itself derived from the grandfather.

    Synonyms

    • (parent): see Thesaurus:father
    • (most significant thing): see mother and granddaddy

    Antonyms

    • (with regards to gender) mother
    • (with regards to ancestry) son, daughter, child

    Hypernyms

    • (a male parent): parent

    Derived terms

    Related terms

    • Father
    • Jupiter
    • paternal

    Translations

    Verb

    father (third-person singular simple present fathers, present participle fathering, simple past and past participle fathered)

    1. To be a father to; to sire.
    2. (figuratively) To give rise to.
    3. To act as a father; to support and nurture.
    4. To provide with a father.
    5. To adopt as one's own.

    Translations

    See also

    • beget
    • grandpa
    • pater
    • paternal
    • sire

    References

    Anagrams

    • afther, fareth, hafter, trefah

    Middle English

    Noun

    father

    1. (Late Middle English) Alternative form of fader

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    This article based on an article on Wiktionary. The list of authors can be seen in the page history there. The original work has been modified. This article is distributed under the terms of this license.