daughter

[daw-ter]

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.

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. 2018

Related Words for daughter

girl, woman, offspring

Examples from the Web for daughter

Contemporary Examples of daughter

Then came Bess Myerson, a daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants who was raised in the Sholem Aleichem Houses in the Bronx.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?
Emily Shire
January 7, 2015
Like most Jewish mothers, Myerson thought her daughter could do better.
Why Was Bess Myerson the First and Last Jewish Miss America?
Emily Shire
January 7, 2015
I noticed a picture of her daughter, who was my classmate, and out of curiosity visited her page.
50 Shades of Iran: The Mullahs’ Kinky Fantasies about Sex in the West
IranWire, Shima Sharabi
January 1, 2015
Her daughter, Elaina, 24, a trained costume designer and makeup artist, helps out by sewing clothes.
Inside A Finishing School for Transwomen
Sharon Adarlo
December 27, 2014
They were across the street from a fire station, close enough for his daughter to yell for help.
Red Tape Is Strangling Good Samaritans
Philip K. Howard
December 27, 2014

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

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.