daddy English · revision 5682

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=?a1500}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdæd.i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|en|dad|-y]], a colloquial diminutive.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) Barnhart notes that dadye (before 1529) is recorded before dad (1553), and that both are of uncertain origin but probably from children's speech, like Welsh tad, Latin tata, Greek tétta and Sanskrit tata, which arose independently.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An endearing form of dad, father: probably before 1500 in the OED, about 1500 in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a general term of address it appears in criminal slang from 1679, and for a man in charge from 1859.^(GDoS)^(OED 1989) The most important person or best example, ''the daddy of them all'', is from 1925.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) In jazz slang daddy was a form of address, and also a woman's lover or husband (1926);^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002) ''daddy-o'' is attested by 1925 in Eugene O'Neill and spread through jazz in the late 1940s.^(Etymonline) ''Sugar daddy'' is a 20th-century compound.^(SOED 2002) ''Daddy-long-legs'' is from 1814 in Britain for the crane fly, and by 1865 in the United States for a long-legged spider-like arachnid.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * ?a1500 – father.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1679 – a term of address (slang).^(GDoS)

+ * 1814 – daddy-long-legs.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1925 – the best example; daddy-o.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1926 – a lover (jazz slang).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(informal)'' [[father|alt=Father]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the daddy, slang)'' The best or most important example: ''the daddy of them all''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(slang)'' The dominant man in a group; a [[boss]].^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[daddyish]]

+ * [[granddaddy]]

+ * [[big daddy]]

+ * [[sugar daddy]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[da]]

+ * [[dad]]

+ * [[dada]]

+ * [[papa]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}