Inherited fromMiddle Englishfader, fromOld Englishfæder, fromProto-West Germanic*fader, fromProto-Germanic*fadēr, fromProto-Indo-European*ph₂tḗr, possibly from*peh₂- +*-tḗr.Doublet ofayr,faeder,athair,padre,pater, andpère.
- (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'thər,IPA(key): /ˈfɒːðɚ/
- (Central New England)enPR:fä'thər,IPA(key): /ˈfɔðɚ/
- (India)enPR:fä'thə(r)IPA(key): /ˈfɑːd̪ə(r)/
- (Geordie, else obsolete)enPR:făthə(r)IPA(key): /ˈfæðə(ɹ)/[1]
- (obsolete)enPR:fāthə(r),IPA(key): /ˈfeɪðəɹ/[2]
- Homophone:farther(mostnon-rhotic accents)
- Hyphenation:fa‧ther
- Rhymes:-ɑːðə(ɹ)
The development of the/ɑː/ vowel (outside of those accents which also have it inrather,lather) is irregular and has not been conclusively explained.
father (pluralfathers)
- Amaleparent, especially of a human; a male whoparents achild (which he hassired,adopted,fostered, taken as his own, etc.).
Myfather was a strong influence on me.
1905,
E. M. Forster,
Where Angels Fear to Tread , chapter 7:
- "Ah, but how beautiful (my baby boy) is! And he ismine,mine for ever. Even if he hates me he will bemine. He cannot help it, he is made out of me; I am his father."
1980 August 1 [1980 May 1],Ching-kuo Chiang, “President Chiang Ching-kuo continues his period of mourning and finds that visits to countryside and people give him renewed strength”, inTaiwan Today[3], archived fromthe original on17 May 2020:My personal success or failure is insignificant; the rise or fall of the nation is my responsibility and must not be shirked. Upon introspection, I feel I am firmer than ever in confidence that the Communists will be defeated. These are feelings which will comfortFather's soul in Heaven.
2024 November 27, Jessie Yeung and Isaac Yee, “Laos detains foreign hostel staff over backpacker methanol poisonings as families and travelers demand answers”, inCNN[4]:Speaking to reporters at Melbourne airport, theirfathers thanked supporters and praised efforts from the Australian government, according to Nine News.
2025 June 15, Madeline Holcombe, “How to be a dad to sons today, according to experts”, inCNN[5]:“There was just this opportunity with afather-son dynamic to really nurture,” she said. “If the boys are starting to learn that they’re not supposed to be girls and they’re not supposed to be too much like their mothers, or too close to their mothers, then thefather really can step in.”
- Amale who hassired ababy; this person in relation to hischild orchildren.
My friend Tony just became afather.
- A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Romans4:16:Therefoꝛeit is of faith, that it might bee by grace; to the ende the pꝛomiſe might be ſure to all the ſeede, not to that onely which is of the Law, but to that alſo which is of the faith of Abꝛaham, who is thefather of vs all,
- A term of respectful address for an elderly man.
Come,father; you can sit here.
- A term of respectful address for a priest.
c.1603–1604 (date written),William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:Bless you, goodfather friar!
- A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
My brother was afather to me after my parents got divorced.
The child isfather to the man.
- A pioneering figure in a particular field.
Albert Einstein is thefather of modern physics.
- Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
1991,The Nairobi Law Monthly:Soon after the announcement of this year's election results, Mereka said that "thefather of all battles had just begun." His dispute with Muite goes back to March last year[…]
2002,Financial Management:"If UK GDP slows by 1 per cent, there is the mother andfather of all recessions. It was exciting, but very bizarre, working in such an environment."
2012, Zubairu Wai,Epistemologies of African Conflicts: Violence, Evolutionism, and the War in Sierra Leone, Palgrave Macmillan,→ISBN, page93:“TheFather of All Battles”
On March 23, 1991, a band of armed insurgents attacked the town of Bomaru[…]
- Something inanimate that begets.
1649,Richard Lovelace,Amyntor's Grove, His Chloris, Arigo, and Gratiana. An Elogie.[6], Thomas Harper, page88:But may the Sun and gentle weather, / When you are both growne ripe together, / Load you with fruit, such as yourFather / From you with all the joyes doth gather: / And may you when one branch is dead / Graft ſuch another in it's ſtead,[…]
- (Christianity) A member of achurch council.
2003,Francis Oakley,The Conciliarist Tradition: Constitutionalism in the Catholic Church, 1300–1870,→ISBN, pages37–8:In proceeding in this fashion, thefathers assembled at Pisa were following the generally accepted canonistic teaching of the day[…]
2009, Peter Chidi Okuma,Empowerment of the Catholic Laity in the Nigerian Political Situation […],→ISBN,page177:On the part of thefathers of the synod, over 50 bishops, from every continent, spoke on different ‘group forms’ of the lay apostolate, whereas about 38fathers made their own interventions in writing to the General Secretary.
2014, Ronald D. Witherup,The Word of God at Vatican II: Exploring Dei Verbum,→ISBN,page31:Remember that thefathers of Vatican II had rejected the first draft of the constitution on revelation entirely.
- (computing) Thearchived olderversion of afile that immediately precedes the current version, and was itself derived from thegrandfather.
2004, Ray Bradley,The Ultimate Computing Glossary for Advanced Level, page31:Three generations of file are usually kept, being the grandfather,father and son files.
2007, O. Ray Whittington, Patrick R. Delaney,Wiley CPA Exam Review 2008: Auditing and Attestation, page556:The file from which thefather was developed with the transaction files of the appropriate day is the grandfather.
father (third-person singular simple presentfathers,present participlefathering,simple past and past participlefathered)
- To be a father to; tosire.
1591 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene v],page117, column 2:Well go too, we'll haue no Baſtards liue, / Eſpecially ſinceCharles muſtFather it.
- (figuratively) To give rise to.
1611 April (first recorded performance),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene ii],page387, column 1:Cowardsfather Cowards & Baſe things Syre Bace;
- Toact as a father; tosupport andnurture.
1611 April (first recorded performance),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene ii],page390, column 2:I good youth, / And ratherFather thee, then Maſter thee:
- To provide with a father.
1599 (first performance),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act II, scene i],page116, column 2:Thinke you, I am no ſtronger then my Sex / Being ſoFather'd, and ſo Husbanded?
1906, James George Frazer,Adonis, Attis, Osiris, volume 2, page209:The relations of the sexes were so loose and vague that children could not befathered on any particular man.
- Toadopt as one's own.
1713,Imitation of Horace,Jonathan Swift, Book I. Ep. VII:Kept company with men of wit / Who oftenfathered what he writ.
- ^Krapp, George Philip (1925),The English Language in America[1], volume II, New York: Century Co. for theModern Language Association of America,→OCLC, pages50-51.
- ^Dobson, E[ric] J. (1957),English pronunciation 1500-1700[2], second edition, volume II: Phonology,Oxford:Clarendon Press, published1968,→OCLC,§ 6,page467.
father
- (Late Middle English)alternative form offader
father
- alternative form offaither
- “father,n.”, inThe Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh:Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present,→OCLC, retrieved23 May 2024, reproduced fromWilliam A[lexander] Craigie,A[dam] J[ack] Aitken[et al.], editors,A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire:Oxford University Press, 1931–2002,→OCLC.
