mad

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

Translingual

Symbol

mad

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Madurese.

English

Etymology

From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣdd, 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”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæd/
• (Southern England, Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈmæːd/
• Rhymes: -æd

Adjective

mad (comparative madder, superlative maddest)

1. Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
2. (chiefly US; informal in UK) Angry, annoyed.
3. (chiefly in the negative, informal) Used litotically to indicate satisfaction or approval.
4. (UK, informal) Bizarre; incredible.

5. Wildly confused or excited.
7. Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
8. (colloquial, usually with for or about) Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.

9. (of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.

10. (slang, cheifly New England, New York, African-American Vernacular) Intensifier, signifying abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.

11. (of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.

Usage notes

• In Commonwealth countries other than Canada, mad typically implies the insane or crazy sense more so than the angry sense.

• In the United States and Canada, the word mad refers to anger much more often than madness, but such usage is still considered informal by some speakers and labeled as such even in North American English by most UK dictionaries. This is due to an old campaign (since 1781 by amateur language pundits) to discredit the angry sense of the word that was more effective in the UK than in North America. Though not as old as the sense denoting insanity, the sense relating to anger is certainly very old (going back at least to the fourteenth century).

• On the other hand, if one is described as having "went mad" or "gone mad" in North America, this denotes insanity, and not anger. Meanwhile, if one "is mad at" something or has "been mad about" something, it is understood that they are angered rather than insane. In addition, such derivatives as "madness", "madman", "madhouse" and "madly" always denote insanity, irrespective of whether one is in the Commonwealth or in North America.

Synonyms

• (insane): See also Thesaurus:insane
• (angry): See also Thesaurus:angry
• (slang: Intensifier, much): wicked, mighty, kinda, helluv, hella.

Translations

Adverb

mad (not comparable)

1. (slang, cheifly New England, New York, African-American Vernacular and UK, dialectal) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.

   He was driving mad slow.

   It's mad hot today.

   He seems mad keen on her.

Synonyms

• (slang: Intensifier; very): hella; helluv; wicked

Verb

mad (third-person singular simple present mads, present participle madding, simple past and past participle madded)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To be or become mad. [14th–19th c.]
2. (now colloquial US, Jamaica) To madden, to anger, to frustrate. [from 15th c.]

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

• ADM, AMD, Adm., DAM, DMA, MDA, adm., dam

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.

Adjective

mad

1. good

Noun

mad

1. goodness

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse matr, from Proto-Germanic *matiz, cognate with Norwegian, Swedish mat (“food”), English meat, German Mett (from Low German).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mað/, [ˈmæð̠˕ˠ]
• Rhymes: -ad

Noun

mad c (singular definite maden, not used in plural form)

1. food

Declension

Derived terms

• babymad
• aftensmad
• morgenmad
• natmad
• madglad

Noun

mad c (singular definite madden, plural indefinite madder)

1. a slice of bread with something on top.

Usage notes

Very compound-prone; see for example ostemad or pølsemad.

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːˀð/, [ˈmaˀð]

Verb

mad

1. imperative of made

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English ġemǣdd, ġemǣded, the past participle of ġemǣdan.

Alternative forms

• madd, medd

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mad/, /mɛd/

Adjective

mad (plural and weak singular madde, comparative madder, superlative maddyst)

1. Mad, insane, deranged; not of sound mind.
2. Emotionally overwhelmed; consumed by mood or feelings.
3. Perplexed, bewildered; surprised emotionally.
4. Irate, rageful; having much anger or fury.
5. Idiotic or dumb; badly thought out or conceived
6. (rare) Obstinate, incautious, overenthusiastic.
7. (rare) Distraught, sad, unhappy.
8. (rare) Scatterbrained or absent-minded.

Derived terms

• amad
• madden
• madhede
• madli
• madnesse
• madschipe

Descendants

• English: mad
• Scots: mad

References

• “mā̆d, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-09.

Etymology 2

Derived from the adjective.

Verb

mad

1. Alternative form of madden

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːd/, /mad/

Verb

mad

1. past participle of make

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mað]

Etymology 1

Univerbation of má (“if”) +‎ ba/bid

Verb

mad

1. if it be; if it were (third-person singular present/past subjunctive)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mad.

Etymology 2

A reduced form of maith (“good”).

Adverb

mad

1. well, fortunately

Descendants

• ⇒ Middle Irish: modgénair, mogénar (from mad génair (“fortunately was born”))
  • Irish: méanar
  • Manx: maynrey

Further reading

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “mad”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Mutation

Palauan

Etymology 1

From Pre-Palauan *maða, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *mata, from Proto-Austronesian *maCa.

Noun

mad

1. (anatomy) eye (organ), face, facial expression
2. front; area, space or time in front of

   Medal a blik. ― In front of my house.

   El mo er a medad. ― In the future (literally, “what extends beyond (in the direction of) our face”)

3. aperture, access, entrance

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Pre-Palauan *maðe, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(m-)atay, from Proto-Austronesian *(m-)aCay.

Verb

mad

1. to die

References

• mad in Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary, at tekinged.com.
• mad in Palauan-English Dictionary, at trussel2.com.
• mad in Lewis S. Josephs; Edwin G. McManus; Masa-aki Emesiochel (1977) Palauan-English Dictionary, University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, page 139.

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /maːd/
• Rhymes: -aːd

Adjective

mad (feminine singular mad, plural mad, equative mated, comparative matach, superlative mataf)

1. good
2. lucky, fortunate
3. suitable

Noun

mad m (plural madioedd)

1. goodness
2. good person

Mutation