lad

Meaning

Noun

• A boy or young man.
• A Jack the lad; a boyo.
• A groom who works with horses (also called stable-lad).
• The penis.

Origin

• From Middle English ladde ("foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy"), from late Old English *ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of North Germanic origin, possibly from Old Norse ladd ("hose, woolen stocking; sock"), undergoing semantic shift to mean a foolish youth, youngster of lower social status; thence by connotative amelioration coming to mean any young fellow. See also Swedish ladder ("old shoes"), lodde, lädder, all said to be related to Old Norse loðinn ("hairy, shaggy, woolly").