lad
Plural: lads
Noun
- A boy or young man.
- a boy or man
- a male child (a familiar term of address to a boy)
- A boy or young man.
- A hedonistic or irresponsible young man; A Jack the lad.
- A familiar term of address for a young man.
- A groom who works with horses.
- The penis.
- A scammer.
Examples
- Come here, lad, and help me shift these boxes.
- I think he reckons he’s a bit of a lad.
- Last night I was out drinking with the lads.
- Playing LAD was a simple, safe move when no big words were available.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English ladde (“foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy”), from late Old English *ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse ladd (“hose, woolen stocking; sock”), which may have undergone semantic shift to mean a term of abuse (e.g. foolish youth, youngster of lower social status, etc.); thence by connotative amelioration coming to mean any young fellow. Compare Norwegian ladd (“rough sock, woolen or felt slipper”) and the -ladd in compounds Askeladd/Askeladden (a nickname in fairy tales, "Ash Lad") and tusseladd (“nincompoop”). See also Swedish ladder (“old shoes”), lodde (“Frisian shoe”), lädder (“socks”), all said to be related to Old Norse loðinn (“hairy, shaggy, woolly”), loddi (“shaggy dog”).
Synonyms
blighter, bloke, chap, cub, cuss, fella, feller, fellow, gent, laddie, sonny, sonny boy, stable boy, stable lad
Scrabble Score: 4
lad: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordlad: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
lad: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary