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• paddy
  paddy

  noun

  a rice field.
• Paddy
  Paddy

  noun

  an Irishman or a person of Irish descent.

paddy

¹ American  

[pad-ee] / ˈpæd i /

noun

• paddies
  plural

1. a rice field.

2. rice, especially in the husk, either uncut or gathered.

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Paddy ² American  

[pad-ee] / ˈpæd i /

noun

• Paddies
  plural

1. Slang: Often Offensive. an Irishman or a person of Irish descent.

2. a male given name.

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paddy ¹ British  

/ ˈpædɪ /

noun

1. Also called: paddy field. a field planted with rice

2. rice as a growing crop or when harvested but not yet milled

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Paddy ² British  

/ ˈpædɪ /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) an informal, often derogatory, name for an Irishman

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paddy ³ British  

/ ˈpædɪ /

noun

1. informal a fit of temper

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Sensitive Note

This term is used as a neutral nickname or term of address for an Irishman, though it may be perceived as insulting.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Paddies
  plural
• paddies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of paddy¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; from Malay padi “unhusked rice”; currency of this word in the English of India perhaps due to early association with Kannada batta, bhatta “unhusked rice” (from Indo-Aryan; compare Hindi, Marathi bhāt “cooked rice,” Sanskrit bhakhta “food, meal”)

Origin of Paddy²

Familiar variant of Irish Padraig Patrick; see -y ²

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Explanation

A paddy is a field used for growing rice. Paddies are different from most other crop fields because they are partially flooded with water. If you plan on farming a rice paddy, you'll probably want to invest in a good pair of waterproof boots. There are a few kinds of rice that can grow in dry soil, but most need the soggy soil that a paddy provides. Most rice paddies are located in various parts of Asia, although they can also be found in Spain, Haiti, and the state of California. Another meaning of this word is "unmilled rice." The Malay root of paddy is padi, "rice in the straw."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paddy Paddy Paddies paddies

Picturesque villages of green paddy fields and houses sat beside vast chunks of land washed away.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

"He wakes up almost every two hours and have a screaming paddy which takes almost a hour to get him back to sleep xx."

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

Tian and his colleagues played a key role in identifying and measuring how wetlands, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and global paddy rice farming contributed to the rapid rise in atmospheric methane.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 10, 2026

A number of them are bordered by mountains, cities or paddy fields, making it harder to break out of the beach perimeter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 7, 2025

The men walking point crossed a dirt path and splashed into another paddy.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Meanwhile, Flutter Entertainment—which houses FanDuel, PokerStars, and Paddy Power among its brands—has canceled its listing in London and made New York its main listing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

He said fellow BBC presenters Sara Cox, Paddy McGuinness and Vernon Kay had previously achieved "extraordinary things" for Children in Need, adding: "I've got a lot to live up to."

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

Paddy describes himself as an "artist, inventor, explorer and plumber based in Belfast".

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

Take Me Out host Paddy McGuiness is pictured front and centre of the Sun on Sunday, alongside a woman the paper says is BBC Radio 2 publicist Emma Carey.

From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026

Fintan takes him through the bedroom to the backyard and when they come back Paddy says, I have to go home.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

He said when the artist first told him about the idea "he talked about the idea of different Paddies who have all done interesting things".

From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2023

Paddies require enough water to keep rice plants partially submerged to grow.

From Reuters ● Jun. 16, 2015

Paddies were blackened with salt water, the rice crop destroyed.

From Time Magazine Archive

Such subjects as Agriculture, Hokkaido, Labour, Paddies, Rice and Sericulture are indexed at length, but some matters which relate to them and are of general interest appear in the body of the Index.

From The Foundations of Japan Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People by J.W. Robertson Scott

Tom immediately told him he should leave that place, and an altercation commenced; but even an electioneering dispute could not but savour of fun and repartee, between Paddies.

From Handy Andy, Volume One A Tale of Irish Life, in Two Volumes by Samuel Lover

The landscape includes large areas of rice paddies along with lotus fields, cultivated cropland, and pastureland.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026

In the rice paddies of Buri Ram, Thailand, a sarus crane gently cleans its one-week-old chick before lingering in a quiet beak-to-beak moment.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2026

Niigata prefecture is a coastal idyll of steep mountains and lush rice paddies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025

Regulation to protect Bali's rice paddies from further development is also planned.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2025

He gazed out at the wire and at the paddies beyond, where the danger was.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

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