wad

Etymology

It is of unknown origin.^[2][3][4] Etymonline gives wadde from the early 15th century.^[5] The word corresponds in form and early meaning to Medieval Latin wadda (“wadding”), recorded in Anglo-Latin in 1380,^[6][7] and is obscurely related to Dutch watten, German Watte (from Dutch), French ouate, Italian ovatta and Swedish vadd;^[6][7][8][2] Barnhart takes the Swedish word from English.^[7] The OED states that the origin of these words and their relation to each other are unknown.^[2] Klein traces the Dutch word to the Medieval Latin one and that to an Arabic word for the lining of a garment, as Dictionary.com also does.^[9][10] Another suggestion, mentioned by Barnhart and Etymonline, is a shortening of wadmal, a coarse woollen cloth, from Old Norse váðmál, from váð (“cloth”) and mál (“measure”).^[7][5] Skeat took it as Scandinavian,^[11] and Weekley thought its ultimate source probably Oriental.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A material of matted fibres of silk or raw cotton, used for padding: 1540, in an Act of Henry VIII; this sense died out in the 18th century.^[2][7] Etymonline dates wadde, a small bunch of soft material for stuffing, to the early 15th century,^[5] and Merriam-Webster also gives the 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In the later 16th century the word was used for a bundle of hay or straw (1573) and for a small soft mass used as a plug or pad (1580).^[2][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as a bundle of straw thrust close together, deriving it from a Saxon word for hay.^[13] From 1667 a wad was the plug of tow or the disc that holds the powder and shot in a gun,^[2][5] and the verb, recorded from 1579, first meant to put a wad into a gun.^[2][7][5] A tightly rolled bundle, especially of banknotes, is recorded from 1771 and is chiefly American;^[2] Barnhart dates the banknote sense to 1814 in American English, and tightwad, a miser, to 1900.^[7] The phrase shoot one's wad, to do all one can, probably comes from the gun sense;^[5] the OED's first record is from 1914, Etymonline dates it by 1860.^[2][5] In British services' slang from 1919 a wad was a bun or a sandwich.^[2][14] A slang sense "semen" dates from about 1930,^[15][5] and in the 1980s -wad became a second element in insults.^[5]

Timeline

• 1540 – a material of matted fibres for padding (obsolete by 1761).^[2][7]
• 1573 – a bundle of hay or straw.^[2]
• 1579 – verb, to put a wad into a gun.^[2][3]
• 1580 – a small soft mass used as a plug or pad.^[2][7]
• 1667 – a plug or disc holding the charge in a gun.^[2]
• 1676 – verb, to press into a compact mass.^[2] Barnhart dates this sense to 1675.^[7]
• 1759 – verb, to line or pad with wadding.^[2][5]
• 1771 – a tight roll, especially of banknotes.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1778.^[5]
• 1914 – shoot one's wad, to do all one can.^[2]
• 1919 – a bun or sandwich, in services' slang.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small lump or ball of soft material, such as cotton wool, used for packing, stuffing or wiping: a wad of tissue.^[16][3][14]
2. A plug or disc of felt, paper or cloth that holds the powder and shot in place in a gun or cartridge.^[16][2][14]
3. A tight roll or bundle of paper, especially of banknotes; informally, a large amount of money.^[14][2][3]
4. (British, chiefly military slang) A bun, cake or sandwich.^[14][2]

Verb

1. To press or roll something into a wad, often with up: He wadded up the receipt and threw it away.^[3][2]
2. To put a wad into a gun or cartridge.^[2][5]
3. To line or pad with wadding.^[2][5]

Word family

• wadder
• tightwad

Related words

• wadding
• wadmal

Usage notes

Three other words are spelled wad: in land surveying and dialect a wad was a straight line or a mark for measuring, perhaps related to vaðr (“measuring line”) or to wade (1610);^[2][3][17] another wad, of unknown origin, is a local name for graphite (1614) and an earthy ore of manganese (1783);^[2][8][3] and Scots wad, a pledge, is an alteration of wed.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)