father

See also: Father

Contents

English

Etymology

From Middle English fader, from Old English fæder, from Proto-Germanic *fadēr (compare West Frisian faar, North Frisian faaðer, Low German Fader, Dutch vader, German Vater, Danish fader, Norwegian and Swedish far), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (compare Irish athair, Tocharian A pācar, B pācer, Persian پدر‎ (pedar), Lithuanian patinas (“male animal”), akin to Latin pater, akin to Ancient Greek πατήρ (patḗr), akin to Armenian հայր (hayr), akin to Sanskrit पितृ (pitṛ, “father”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fä'thə(r), IPA^(key): /ˈfɑː.ðə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɑːðə(r)
• (General Australian) enPR: fä'thə, IPA^(key): /ˈfaː.ðə/
• (General American) enPR: fä'thər, IPA^(key): /ˈfɑ.ðɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: farther (in non-rhotic accents)
• Hyphenation: fa‧ther

Noun

father (plural fathers)

1. A (generally human) male who begets a child.

   My father was a strong influence on me.

   My friend Tony just became a father.

   • Bible, Proverbs x. 1

     A wise son maketh a glad father.

   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:

     When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.

   • 2010 April 7, Cécile Corbel (lyrics), Cécile Corbel and Simon Caby (music), “My First Borrowing”, in 借りぐらし Kari-gurashi [The Borrowers] (CD), Yamaha Music Communications, performed by Cécile Corbel:

     Father, dear father
     Will you be proud of me?
     I wish I could be
     Just like you.

2. A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
   • Bible, 1 Kings ii. 10

     David slept with his fathers.

   • Bible, Rom. iv. 16

     Abraham, who is the father of us all

3. A term of respectful address for an elderly man.

   Come, father; you can sit here.

4. A term of respectful address for a priest.
   • Shakespeare

     Bless you, good father friar!

5. A person who plays the role of a father in some way.

   My brother was a father to me after my parents got divorced.

   The child is father to the man.

   • Bible, Job xxix. 16

     I was a father to the poor.

   • Bible, Genesis xiv. 8

     He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house.

6. The founder of a discipline or science.

   Albert Einstein is the father of modern physics.

7. A senator of Ancient Rome.

Synonyms

• (parent): See also Thesaurus:father

Antonyms

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

Hypernyms

• (a male parent): parent

Derived terms

terms derived from father (noun)

• Father Christmas
• Father of Lies
• father of the House
• Father Time
• Father's Day
• fatherhood

• father-in-law
• fatherland
• fatherless
• fatherlike
• fatherliness

• fatherly
• forefather
• godfather
• God the Father
• grandfather
• great-grandfather

• Heavenly Father
• highfather
• how's your father
• like father, like son
• penny-father
• stepfather

Related terms

• Father

Translations

male parent

• Abaza: аба (ābā)
• Abkhaz: аб (āb)
• Acholi: abaa
• Adyghe: ты (tə)
• Afrikaans: (formal) vader (af), (informal) pa (af)
• Ainu: アチャ (aca)
• Akkadian: 𒀜 (abu)
• Albanian: baba (sq) m, atë (sq) m
• Aleut: adax
• American Sign Language: 5@Forehead-ThumbBack Contact
• Amharic: እባት m (ʾəbat)
• Amis: ama^
• Ammonite: 𐤀𐤁‎ (ʾb)
• Amurdag: iraba
• Arabic: أَب‎ (ar) m (ʾab), وَالِد‎ (ar) m (wālid), بَابَا‎ m (bābā)
• Aragonese: pai (an) m
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אבא‎ m (’abā’)

  Syriac: ܐܒܐ‎ m (’abā’)

• Armenian: հայր (hy) (hayr), պապա (hy) (papa) (informal)
• Aromanian: tatã m
• Assamese: দেউতা (deuta), পিতা (pita), বাপ (bap), আব্বা (abba)
• Asturian: padre (ast) m, pá (ast) m
• Atayal: yaba
• Avar: эмен (èmen)
• Avestan: 𐬞𐬌𐬙𐬀𐬭‎ (pitar)
• Aymara: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: ata (az), (dialect) dədə
• Baba Malay: bapak
• Baluchi: پت‎ (pit), پس‎ (pis), ابا‎ (abbá)
• Bashkir: атай (atay)
• Basque: aita (eu)
• Bats: დად (dad)
• Beja: baab
• Belarusian: ба́цька m (bácʹka), айце́ц m (ajcjéc), та́та m (táta) (colloquial)
• Bengali: আব্বা (bn) (abba), পিতা (bn) (pita), বাবা (bn) (baba)
• Bourguignon: peire m, poupa m (informal), 'pa (informal)
• Brahui: baawa
• Breton: tad (br) m, tadoù (br) pl
• Bulgarian: баща́ (bg) m (baštá), та́тко (bg) m (tátko), тати m (tati)
• Bunun: tama
• Burmese: အဖေ (my) (a.hpe), အဖ (my) (a.hpa.), (formal) ဖခင် (my) (hpa.hkang)
• Buryat: эсэгэ (esege)
• Catalan: pare (ca) m
• Central Dusun: tapa
• Central Sierra Miwok: ʔypýˑ-
• Chechen: да (da)
• Cherokee: ᎡᏙᏓ (edoda), ᎠᏓᏙᏓ (adadoda)
• Chichewa: bambo, tate
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 父親, 父亲 (fu⁶ can¹), 爸爸 (yue) (baa^1-4 baa¹) (colloquial), 老竇 (yue), 老窦, 老豆 (yue) (lou⁵ dau⁶)

  Dungan: фучин (fučin), дада (dada), да (da), де (di͡ə), деде (di͡ədi͡ə), лозы (lozь) (colloquial), ада (ada)

  Mandarin: 父親 (zh), 父亲 (zh) (fùqīn), 父 (zh) (fù), 爸爸 (zh) (bàba), 爹 (zh) (diē) (colloquial), 老子 (zh) (lǎozi) (slang)

  Min Nan: 爹親 (zh-min-nan), 爹亲 (tia-chhin), 娘爸/娘父 (niû-pē), 父親, 父亲 (hū-chhin)

• Chinook Jargon: papa
• Chuukese: sam
• Chuvash: атте (atte)
• Comanche: apʉ
• Coptic:

  Bohairic: ⲓⲱⲧ m (iōt), ⲡⲁⲧⲣⲟⲥ m (patros), ⲓⲟϯ pl (ioti)

  Sahidic: ⲉⲓⲱⲧ m (eiōt), ⲡⲁⲧⲣⲟⲥ m (patros), ⲉⲓⲟⲧⲉ pl (eiote)

• Cornish: tas m, sira m
• Crimean Tatar: baba
• Czech: otec (cs), táta (cs), tatínek (cs), taťka (cs), fotr (cs) m (pejorative)
• Dalmatian: tuota m, teta
• Danish: far (da) c, fader (da) c
• Darkinjung: biambai
• Dhivehi: ބައްޕަ‎ (bapa)
• Dutch: vader (nl) m, papa (nl) (informal)
• Eastern Mari: ача (ača)
• Eastern Mnong: bap
• Edomite: 𐤀𐤁‎ (ʾb)
• Egyptian: (jt m)
• Erzya: тетя (tetja)
• Eshtehardi: دادا‎ m (dādā)
• Esperanto: patro (eo)
• Estonian: isa (et)
• Etruscan: 𐌀𐌐𐌀 (apa)
• Ewe: please add this translation if you can
• Extremaduran: pairi
• Faroese: faðir (fo) m, pápi (fo) m, babba (fo) m
• Fijian: tama (fj)
• Finnish: isä (fi)
• French: père (fr) m, papa (fr) (informal)
• Friulian: pari m
• Gagauz: boba, ata
• Galician: pai (gl) m, padre (gl) m
• Ge'ez: ኣብ (ʾab)
• Georgian: მამა (mama)
• German: Vater (de) m

  Alemannic German: Vatter m

• Gondi: please add this translation if you can
• Gooniyandi: ngaboo
• Gothic: 𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌰 m (atta), 𐍆𐌰𐌳𐌰𐍂 m (fadar)
• Greek: πατέρας (el) m (patéras)

  Ancient Greek: πατήρ m (patḗr)

• Greenlandic: ataata
• Guaraní: úva, túva (gn), ru, itúva
• Gujarati: પિતા (gu) m (pitā)
• Gunwinggu: ngabba
• Haitian Creole: please add this translation if you can
• Hausa: uba, baba
• Hawaiian: makua kāne
• Hebrew: אָב‎ (he) m (av)
• Hindi: पिता (hi) m (pitā), वालिद (hi) m (vālid), बाप (hi) m (bāp), पिदर (hi) m (pidar)
• Hittite: 𒀜𒋫 c (atta), 𒀜𒋫𒀸 (attas)
• Hungarian: apa (hu)
• Hunsrik: Fatter m
• Iban: apai
• Icelandic: faðir (is) m
• Ido: patro (io)
• Igbo: nna
• Ilocano: ama
• Inari Sami: eeči
• Indonesian: bapa (id), bapak (id), ayah (id), ayahanda (id)
• Ingush: да (da)
• Interlingua: patre (ia)
• Interlingue: patre (ie)
• Inuktitut: ᐊᑖᑕ (ataata)
• Irish: athair (ga) m

  Old Irish: athair m

• Italian: padre (it) m, babbo (it) m, papà (it) m
• Japanese: お父さん (ja) (おとうさん, otōsan), 父 (ja) (ちち, chichi) (humble), パパ (ja) (papa)
• Jarai: ama, ama
• Javanese: bapak (jv)
• Jersey Dutch: vâder m
• Kabardian: адэ (ādă)
• Kalmyk: эцк (etsk)
• Kamba: ethe
• Kannada: ತಂದೆ (kn) (tande)
• Karachay-Balkar: ата
• Karelian: ižä, tuatto
• Kashubian: òjc m, tatk (csb) m
• Kavalan: tama
• Kazakh: ата (kk) (ata), әке (kk) (äke), көке (kk) (köke)
• Kemi Sami: äätj
• Khmer: ឪពុក (km) (ʾəwpuk), ពុក (km) (puk), ឳ (ʾəw)
• Klamath-Modoc: ptisap
• Komi-Permyak: бать (batʹ)
• Korean: 아버지 (ko) (abeoji), 아빠 (ko) (appa), (honorific) 아버님 (ko) (abeonim), 애비 (ko) (aebi) (humble)
• Kristang: pai
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: bab (ku) m, bav (ku) m

  Sorani: باوک‎ (bawk), باو‎ (baw), باب‎ (bab)

• Kurukh: please add this translation if you can
• Kyrgyz: ата (ky) (ata)
• Lamboya: ama
• Lao: ພໍ່ (lo) (phǭ)
• Latgalian: tāvs
• Latin: pater (la) m, genitor m, parens m
• Latvian: tēvs (lv) m, tētis m (dad), papucītis m (sexual, sarcastic)
• Laz: მუმული (mumuli)
• Lithuanian: tėvas (lt) m
• Livonian: izā, tōți (dad)
• Low German: Vader (nds), vader

  Dutch Low Saxon: voa (Gronings), pabbe (Gronings)

• Luhya: papa
• Luo: baba
• Luxembourgish: Papp
• Lydian: 𐤠𐤯𐤠 (ata)
• Lü: ᦗᦸᧈ (poa¹)
• Macedonian: та́тко m (tátko)
• Malagasy: aba (mg), ada (mg)
• Malay: bapa, ayah (ms), bapak, ayahanda, rama, abah (ms)
• Malayalam: അച്ഛന്‍ (acchan‍), പിതാവ് (ml) (pitāvŭ)

• Maltese: missier
• Manchu: ᠠᠮᠠ (ama)
• Mansi: āсь
• Manx: ayr m
• Maore Comorian: ɓaɓa class 5/6 (baba)
• Maori: matua taane, tāne
• Marathi: पिता m (pitā)
• Mazanderani: پیه‌ر‎ (pier)
• Mbabaram: nganjan
• Middle Persian: pid
• Minaean: 𐩱𐩨‎ ('b)
• Mingrelian: მუმა (muma)
• Mirandese: pai
• Miyako: アサ (asa)
• Moabite: 𐤀𐤁‎ (ʾb)
• Moksha: аля (alja)
• Mongolian: аав (mn) (aav) (informal), эцэг (mn) (etseg) (formal)
• Muong: pổ
• Mwani: baba, wawa
• Mycenaean Greek: 𐀞𐀳 (pa-te)
• Nahuatl: tahtli (nah)
• Nama: ǁgûb
• Nataoran Amis: wama
• Navajo: azhéʼé, ataaʼ
• Neapolitan: pate
• Nepali: बाबु (ne) m (bābu)
• Nivkh: ытк (ətk), ытык (ətək), ытка (ətka), ытыка (ətəka)
• Norman: père m (continental Normandy), pére m (Guernsey), péthe m (Jersey)
• North Frisian:

  Föhr-Amrum: aatj m

  Hallig: baabe m

  Mooring: tääte m

• Northern Sami: áhčči
• Norwegian: far (no), pappa (no), fader (no)
• Novial: patro
• O'odham: o꞉g
• Occitan: paire (oc) m
• Ojibwe: imbaabaa (my father)
• Okinawan: please add this translation if you can
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: отьць m (otĭcĭ)

  Glagolitic: ⱁⱅⱐⱌⱐ m (otĭcĭ)

• Old East Slavic: отьць m (otĭcĭ)
• Old English: fæder (ang) m
• Old Persian: 𐎱𐎡𐎫𐎠 (p-i-t-a /pitā/)
• Old Prussian: tāws m, tāwas (regional)
• Old Turkic: 𐰴𐰭‎ (qaŋ), 𐰯𐰀‎ (apa)
• Oriya: ବାପା (or) (bapa)
• Oscan: 𐌐𐌀𐌕𐌝𐌓 (patír)
• Ossetian: фыд (fyd)
• Ottoman Turkish: بابا‎ (bâbâ), اب‎ (eb), پدر‎ (peder), والد‎ (vâlid), اتا‎ (ata)
• Pacoh: counh, a-ám
• Pali: janako m

  Devanagari: जनको m (janako)

• Papiamentu: tata
• Pashto: پلار‎ (ps) m (plār)
• Persian: پدر‎ (fa) (pedar), بابا‎ (fa) m (bâbâ)
• Phoenician: 𐤀𐤁‎ m (ʾb)
• Phrygian: πατερης
• Pirahã: baíxi
• Pite Sami: áhttje
• Pitjantjatjara: mama, punari
• Plains Apache: t’aah (-t’á’)
• Polish: ojciec (pl) m pers, tata (pl) m pers (familiar; equivalent of "dad")
• Portuguese: pai (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਪਿਓ m (pio), ਪਿਤਾ m (pitā), ਬਾਪ m (bāp)
• Quechua: tayta, tata
• Rade: ama
• Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
• Rohingya: bab
• Romani: dad m
• Romanian: tată (ro) m
• Romansch: bap m, bab m
• Russian: оте́ц (ru) m (otéc), па́па (ru) m (pápa) (colloquial), ба́тя (ru) m (bátja) (colloquial), ба́тюшка (ru) m (bátjuška), ба́тька (ru) m (bátʹka), папа́ша (ru) m (papáša) (may sound derogatory), тя́тя (ru) m (tjátja)
• Rusyn: ня́ньо m (njánʹo)
• Rwanda-Rundi: so (rw)
• Saaroa: ama'a
• Sabaean: 𐩱𐩨‎ ('b)
• Saisiyat: yaba'
• Sanskrit: पितृ (sa) m (pitṛ), पितर m (pitara)
• Sardinian: babbu m
• Saterland Frisian: Baabe
• Scots: faither, fader
• Scottish Gaelic: athair (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: отац m

  Roman: otac (sh) m

• Shan: ပေႃႈ (pōa)
• Shona: baba
• Sicilian: patri (scn) m
• Sikkimese: please add this translation if you can
• Silesian: uojćec m
• Sindhi: پيء‎ (pīʾu), بابو‎ (bābō)
• Sinhalese: තාත්තා (si) (tāttā)
• Skolt Sami: eʹčč
• Slovak: (formal) otec (sk), (diminutive) tato, (diminutive) tatko, (diminutive) tatíčko, (pejorative) foter
• Slovene: oče (sl) m, očka m, (dialect) tata m, (dialect) ata m
• Somali: aabo (so), aabbe (so)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: nan m

  Upper Sorbian: nan m

• South Picene: 𐌐𐌀𐌕𐌄𐌓𐌄𐌝𐌇 (patereíh)
• Spanish: padre (es) m
• Sudovian: tāvas m
• Sundanese: rama
• Svan: მუ (mu)
• Swahili: baba (sw), mzee (sw)
• Swedish: fader (sv), far (sv), pappa (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠛꠣꠙ (baf), ꠀꠛ꠆ꠛꠣ (abba)
• Tabasaran: адаш (adaš), аба (aba)
• Tagalog: ama (tl), tatay (tl)
• Tajik: падар (tg) (padar), бобо (tg) (bobo)
• Talysh:

  Asalemi: دده‎ (dada)

• Tamil: அப்பா (ta) (appā), தந்தை (ta) (tantai), அத்தன் (ta) (attaṉ), அப்பன் (ta) (appaṉ)
• Taos: tǫ̏ména
• Taroko: tama
• Tatar: ата (tt) (ata), әти (tt) (äti), атай (atay)
• Telugu: నాన్న (te) (nānna), తండ్రి (te) (taṇḍri)
• Tetum: aman
• Thai: พ่อ (th) (pɔ̂ɔ), บิดา (th) (bì-daa)
• Thao: ama
• Tibetan: པ་ཕ (pa pha), ཕ་ལགས (pha lags) (honorific)
• Tigre: አብ (ʾäb)
• Tigrinya: ኣቦ (ti) m (ʾabo)
• Tocharian A: pācar
• Tocharian B: pācer
• Tok Pisin: papa
• Tsou: amo
• Tupinambá: uba
• Turkish: baba (tr), ata (tr)
• Turkmen: kaka
• Tuvan: ача (ača), ада (ada)
• Tày: 嗓, 嗚, 嗟
• Udmurt: атай (ataj), бубы (buby), айы (ajy)
• Ugaritic: 𐎀𐎁 (ảb)
• Ukrainian: ба́тько (uk) m (bátʹko), оте́ць m (otécʹ), та́то m (táto) (colloquial)
• Urdu: پتا‎ m (pitā), والد‎ (ur) m (vālid), باپ‎ m (bāp), پدر‎ m (pidar)
• Uyghur: دادا‎ (ug) (dada), ئاتا‎ (ug) (ata)
• Uzbek: ota (uz)
• Venetian: pare (vec) m
• Veps: tat
• Vietnamese: (Southern Vietnam) ba (vi), cha (vi), tía (vi), thầy (vi), cậu (vi), (Northern Vietnam) bố (vi), bác (vi), bọ (vi), áng (vi)
• Vilamovian: foter
• Volapük: fat (vo)
• Votic: isä
• Võro: esä
• Walloon: pere (wa) m
• Wambaya: irda
• Waneci: پيار‎ (piyār)
• Welsh: tad (cy) m
• West Frisian: heit (fy), (archaic or phrasal) faar
• Wiradhuri: babiin
• Wolof: baay, pàppa
• Xhosa: ubawo, utata, uyise
• Yakut: аҕа (ağa)
• Yami: ama
• Yiddish: פֿאָטער‎ m (foter), טאַטע‎ m (tate)
• Yoruba: bàbá
• Yup'ik: aata, ata
• Yuracare: tata
• Zhuang: baz, baq, boh, box, dax, dez
• Zulu: (my) ubaba class 1a/2a, (your) uyihlo class 1a/2a, (his/her) uyise class 1a/2a
• ǃXóõ: a̰a

term of address for an elderly man

• Bulgarian: татко (bg) (tatko)
• Danish: fader (da) c
• Dutch: vadertje (nl) n
• Hungarian: apó (hu)
• Ido: patro (io)
• Indonesian: bung (id), bun (id)
• Japanese: おとうさん (ja) (otōsan)
• Latin: atta m

• Novial: patro
• Persian: بابا‎ (fa) m (bābā), پدر‎ (fa) (pedar)
• Portuguese: senhor (pt) m
• Romani: dad m
• Russian: оте́ц (ru) m (otéc), ба́тя (ru) m (bátja) (colloqial), папа́ша (ru) m (papáša) (colloquial, pejorative)
• Swahili: baba (sw)
• Tamil: அய்யா (ta) (ayyā)
• Telugu: అయ్యా (te) (ayyā)

term of address for a priest

• Arabic: بابا‎ m
• Armenian: տե՛ր հայր (tér hayr)
• Galician: padre (gl) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Vater (de) m, Pater (de) m, Pfarrer (de) m
• Irish: athair (ga) f
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fader (no) m

  Nynorsk: fader m

• Polish: ojciec (pl) m
• Portuguese: padre (pt) m
• Romanian: părinte (ro) m
• Russian: ба́тюшка (ru) m (bátjuška)
• Spanish: padre (es) m
• Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: tad (cy) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Chiricahua: -taa (Chiricahua), -dádé (Mescalero)
• Jicarilla: -ka’éé

• Lipan: -dádí
• Western Apache: -taa, -taa’

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.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, 1 Henry VI v 4

     Well, go to; we'll have no bastards live; Especially since Charles must father it.

2. (figuratively) To give rise to.
   • 1610 — William Shakespeare, Cymbeline ii 2

     Cowards father cowards and base things sire base.

3. To act as a father; to support and nurture.
   • 1610 — William Shakespeare, Cymbeline iv 2

     Ay, good youth! And rather father thee than master thee.

4. To provide with a father.
   • Shakespeare

     Think you I am no stronger than my sex, / Being so fathered and so husbanded?

5. To adopt as one's own.
   • Jonathan Swift

     Men of wit / Often fathered what he writ.

Translations

to sire

• Bulgarian: ставам баща (stavam bašta)
• Danish: være far for
• Finnish: siittää (fi) (to conceive)
• German: zeugen (de)

• Hungarian: nemz (hu)
• Portuguese: gerar (pt), procriar (pt)
• Romanian: procrea (ro)

to give rise to

• Hungarian: nemz (hu)
• Romanian: zămisli (ro), crea (ro), da naștere, produce (ro)

• Spanish: engendrar (es), ocasionar (es), producir (es)

to act as a father

• French: paterner (fr)

• Spanish: engendrar (es)

See also

• beget
• grandpa
• pater
• paternal
• sire

Anagrams

• afther, fareth, hafter, trefah