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definitions

daughter

[daw-ter]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR daughter ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a female child or person in relation to her parents.
any female descendant.
a person related as if by the ties binding daughter to parent: daughter of the church.
anything personified as female and considered with respect to its origin: The United States is the daughter of the 13 colonies.
Chemistry, Physics. an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.

adjective

Biology. pertaining to a cell or other structure arising from division or replication: daughter cell; daughter DNA.

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RELATED WORDS

girl, woman, offspring

Origin of daughter

before 950; Middle English doughter, Old English dohtor; cognate with German Tochter, Greek thygátēr, Sanskrit duhitā
Related formsdaugh·ter·less, adjectivedaugh·ter·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for daughter

Contemporary Examples of daughter

Historical Examples of daughter

  • But, my daughter, why is it that the commands of Phidias would have made you unhappy?

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • Eucoline, the daughter of Agatho, attended me, carrying a lighted torch.

    Philothea

    Lydia Maria Child

  • On a morning late in May Mrs. Bines and her daughter were at breakfast.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Mr. Paine and his daughter were present, and Halbert Davis also.

    Brave and Bold

    Horatio Alger

  • The daughter of Pharaoh saw the youth and desired him for her husband.

    Ancient Man

    Hendrik Willem van Loon

British Dictionary definitions for daughter

daughter

noun

a female offspring; a girl or woman in relation to her parents
a female descendant
a female from a certain country, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment, etca daughter of the church Related adjective: filial
(often capital) archaic a form of address for a girl or woman

adjective

biology denoting a cell or unicellular organism produced by the division of one of its own kind
physics (of a nuclide) formed from another nuclide by radioactive decay
Derived Formsdaughterhood, noundaughterless, adjectivedaughter-like, adjectivedaughterliness, noundaughterly, adjective

Word Origin for daughter

Old English dohtor; related to Old High German tohter daughter, Greek thugatēr, Sanskrit duhitá
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for daughter
n.

Old English dohtor, from Proto-Germanic *dochter, earlier *dhukter (cf. Old Saxon dohtar, Old Norse dottir, Old Frisian and Dutch dochter, German Tochter, Gothic dauhtar), from PIE *dhugheter (cf. Sanskrit duhitar-, Avestan dugeda-, Armenian dustr, Old Church Slavonic dušti, Lithuanian dukte, Greek thygater). The common Indo-European word, lost in Celtic and Latin (Latin filia "daughter" is fem. of filius "son"). The modern spelling evolved 16c. in southern England. Daughter-in-law is attested from late 14c.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper