daddy
Americannoun
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daddies
plural
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Informal. a diminutive of dad.
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Slang. sugar daddy.
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Slang. an affectionate or familiar term of address to a boyfriend or male romantic partner, especially if he is older.
verb (used with object)
idioms
noun
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an informal word for father
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slang the supreme or finest example
the daddy of them all
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slang the dominant male in a group; boss; top man
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of daddy
Explanation
Daddy is an affectionate nickname for your father. For many babies, daddy is one of the earliest words they learn to speak. Many young children call their fathers daddy, and the word is believed to come from baby talk, or the initial sounds — da da — that a baby or toddler tends to make when she's first learning to speak. It's less common for a grown person to call her dad daddy, although some people use the childish nickname throughout their lives.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“She played with them for a little while,” Lott said, “and finally said, ‘I’ll just call my daddy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
“Your daddy is a work in progress, I’m a work in progress,” she sighs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
"My dad wasn't an educated man, he wasn't able to read and write, but my daddy had a great sense of business," she told the BBC's World Service in 2017.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
"My mother was a Democrat and my daddy was a Republican, so I’m a hypocrite," she quipped.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
My mama’s name is Ida, and even though our names are near-to-identical, my daddy says them real different.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
He adds: "Putin was playing this sort of very, very, I suppose, traditional Soviet leadership role, but he was doing it in an era of the reality show, MTV and sugar daddies."
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
But they’re also doing something many child-free cat ladies and cat daddies can relate to on a scale that suits them – growing food, making butter, harvesting eggs.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2024
They set little traps for Hunham’s arrogance and sic their daddies on the administrators, who then bear down on him.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
“I trust mamas, I trust daddies, to deal with the health care of their children.”
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
Maybe each of them is thinking their own dream—of daddies and uncles, brothers and cousins one day being free to come on board.
From "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson
With Henry suddenly tired of daddying, the twins melted back into the woods with Wash every chance they got, taking Edgar along for their adventures.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
