father

Meanings

Noun

• A (generally human) male who begets a child.
• A male ancestor more remote than a parent; a progenitor; especially, a first ancestor.
• A person who plays the role of a father in some way.
• The founder of a discipline or science.
• Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
• Something inanimate that begets.

Verb

• To be a father to; to sire.
• To give rise to.
• To act as a father; to support and nurture.
• To provide with a father.
• To adopt as one's own.

Related

Similar words

• see mother and granddaddy

Opposite words

• mother
• son, daughter, child

Broader meaning words

• parent

Origin

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