paddy
[pad-ee]
- a rice field.
- rice, especially in the husk, either uncut or gathered.
Show More
Origin of paddy
1590–1600; < Malay padi unhusked rice; currency of this word in E of India perhaps due to early association with Kannada batta, bhatta unhusked rice (< Indo-Aryan; compare Hindi, Marathi bhāt cooked rice, Sanskrit bhakhta food, meal)
Paddy
[pad-ee]
- Slang: Often Offensive. an Irishman or a person of Irish descent.
- a male given name.
Show More
Origin of Paddy
Usage note
This term is used as a neutral nickname or term of address for an Irishman, though it may be perceived as insulting.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for paddy
Contemporary Examples
The legendary Captain Paddy Brown was by some accounts the most decorated firefighter in the nation.
Is Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (which won the Mann Booker Prize in 1993) the only one of your novels that stands on its own?
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power funded the trips to the Hermit Kingdom, but stopped after Kim Jong-Un purged his uncle.
Was it anything that Scott saw when he was in Pyongyang that encouraged Paddy Power to drop the project?
One time, when an armored car drove by, Paddy Considine said, “Hey, Martin, are those your Hobbit residuals?”
My London Getaway With Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, Stars of ‘The World’s End’Marlow Stern
November 18, 2013
Historical Examples
Well, Paddy, say no more about that, but let's have the story.
The Universal ReciterVarious
Here Paddy was questioned why he considered the wren as cunning a baste as the fox.
The Universal ReciterVarious
Paddy is mighty 'cute, and knows when he has a man to deal with.
Ireland as It IsRobert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
Paddy may be lazy, but put your finger in his mouth and he'll bite.
Ireland as It IsRobert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
No wonder that poor Paddy has hardly a feather left to fly with.
Ireland as It IsRobert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)
paddy1
- Also called: paddy field a field planted with rice
- rice as a growing crop or when harvested but not yet milled
Show More
Word Origin
from Malay pādī
paddy2
- British informal a fit of temper
Show More
Word Origin
C19: from Paddy
Paddy
- (sometimes not capital) an informal, often derogatory, name for an Irishman
Show More
Word Origin
from Patrick
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 paddy
n.1
"rice field," 1620s, "rice plant," from Malay padi "rice in the straw." Main modern meaning "ground where rice is growing" (1948) is a shortening of paddy field.
Show More
Paddy
n.2
"Irishman," 1780, slang, from the pet form of the common Irish proper name Patrick (Irish Padraig). It was in use in black slang by 1946 for any "white person." Paddy wagon is 1930, perhaps so called because many police officers were Irish. Paddywhack (1881) originally meant "an Irishman."
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper