glad

• IPA^(key): /ɡlæd/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (UK):

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• (New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɛəd/
• Rhymes: -æd
• Homophone: GLAAD

From Middle English glad, gled, from Old English glæd (“shining; bright; cheerful; glad”), from Proto-Germanic *gladaz (“shiny; gleaming; radiant; happy; glossy; smooth; flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”).

Cognate with Scots gled, glaid (“shining; bright; glad”), Saterland Frisian glääd (“smooth; sleek”), West Frisian glêd (“smooth”), Dutch glad (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), German glatt (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish glad (“glad; happy; cheerful”), Icelandic glaður (“glad; joyful; cheery”), Latin glaber (“smooth; hairless; bald”), Russian гла́дкий (gládkij, “smooth”). Doublet of glatt.

glad (comparative gladder or more glad, superlative gladdest or most glad) (usually predicative)

1. Pleased; happy; gratified.

   I'm glad the rain has finally stopped.

   I'm always glad to be of service.

   I was glad of receiving the tent in time for the camping trip.

   I am glad of you. And so I have been since our first encounter.

   I'm very glad at this decision because we'd been on the ropes for a while.

   I am happy and glad at your success.

   Every day I feel glad about the life I am living.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 10:1:

     A wise son maketh a glad father.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene 2]:

     Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd / To bear the tidings of calamity.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

     "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

2. (obsolete) Having a bright or cheerful appearance; expressing or exciting joy; producing gladness.
   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

     Her conversation / More glad to me than to a miser money is.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Glad Eevening & glad morn crownd the fourth day.

glad (third-person singular simple present glads, present participle gladding, simple past and past participle gladded)

1. (archaic, transitive) To make glad.

   Synonyms: cheer up, gladden, exhilarate

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     that which gladded all the warrior train

   • 1725, Homer, “Book VII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     Each drinks the juice that glads the heart of man.

   • 1922, A. E. Housman, Epithalamium, line 3:

     God that glads the lover's heart

Abbreviation of gladiolus

glad (plural glads)

1. (informal) A gladiolus (plant).
   • 2008, Lynn Byczynski, The Flower Farmer, page 217:

     Glads are widely grown as cut flowers both in the United States and abroad.

• GDAL

• gwlad

From Middle Breton gloat (“kingdom, wealth”), from Proto-Brythonic *gwlad, from Proto-Celtic *wlatis (“sovereignty”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wélh₁tis ~ *h₂wl̥h₁téy-, from the root *h₂welh₁-.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑːt/

glad f (plural gladoù)

1. arable land
2. patrimony, estate
3. (archaic) territory, country
4. (archaic) feudal domain

From Old Norse glaðr.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlað/, [ˈɡ̊læð], [ˈklæð̠˕ˠ]
• Rhymes: -ad

glad (neuter glad, plural and definite singular attributive glade, comparative gladere, superlative (predicative) gladest, superlative (attributive) gladeste)

1. happy, glad

• “glad” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch glat, from Old Dutch *glad, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

• IPA^(key): /ɣlɑt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: glad
• Rhymes: -ɑt

glad (comparative gladder, superlative gladst)

1. smooth, polished
2. slippery

Declension of glad
uninflected	glad
inflected	gladde
comparative	gladder
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		glad	gladder	het gladst het gladste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	gladde	gladdere	gladste
	n. sing.	glad	gladder	gladste
	plural	gladde	gladdere	gladste
definite		gladde	gladdere	gladste
partitive		glads	gladders	—

• Berbice Creole Dutch: glati
• Negerhollands: glat
• → Aukan: gaata
• → Papiamentu: glad (dated)

glad

1. completely, entirely (mostly along with verbs and adjective with a negative meaning)

The usage as an adverb is highly restricted to verbs such as vergeten (“to forget”) and bederven (“to spoil, to rot”) and adjectives such as mis (“wrong, incorrect”) and verkeerd (“wrong, incorrect”).

• glade, gladde, glaid, gled

From Old English glæd, from Proto-West Germanic *glad, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlad/, /ɡlaːd/

glad

1. joyful, merry, happy

• English: glad
• Scots: gled, glaid
• Yola: glaude

• “glā̆d, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old Norse glaðr.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɽɑː/, /ɡlɑː/

glad (neuter singular glad, definite singular and plural glade, comparative gladere, indefinite superlative gladest, definite superlative gladeste)

1. happy, glad

• “glad” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse glaðr. Akin to English glad.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑː/

glad (neuter singular glad, definite singular and plural glade, comparative gladare, indefinite superlative gladast, definite superlative gladaste)

1. happy, glad

• “glad” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑːd/

glād

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of glīdan

From Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

glad

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *goldъ.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlâːd/

glȃd f (Cyrillic spelling гла̑д)

1. hunger

   (T)ko radi, ne boji se gladi. ― Who works, fears hunger not.

• “glad”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *gȏldъ.

• IPA^(key): /ɡláːt/

glȃd m inan

1. hunger

   Synonym: lakota

• “glad”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “glad”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

From Old Swedish glaþer, from Old Norse glaðr, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, derivation of Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shine”).

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑː(d)/

glad (comparative gladare, superlative gladast)

1. happy, glad (feeling or causing happiness)

   Antonym: ledsen

   Jag blev glad när jag fick klappa den gulliga kaninen och fick en stor glass

   I was [became] happy when I got to pet the cute rabbit and got a big ice cream

   De blev glada när laget de hejade på vann

   They were [became] happy when the team they were rooting for won

   vara på glatt humör

   be in a happy mood

   en glad nyhet

   a piece of happy news

   glad och ledsen

   happy and sad

2. (somewhat colloquial, with i (“in”)) fond of

   Near-synonym: svår på

   vara glad i kvinnor / sprit

   be fond of women / alcohol [liquor]

   Jag är glad i dig

   I am fond of you [implies romantically]

• glad i hatten (“drunk”)
• glad i hågen
• gladlynt

• glädja
• glädje

• glad in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker

• lagd