lad

Clipping of English Ladino or Ladino לאדינו (ladino).

lad

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Ladino.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Ladino terms

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”).^[1]

• IPA^(key): /læd/
• (unstressed form, archaic) IPA^(key): /ləd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æd

lad (plural lads)

1. A boy or young man.

   Coordinate term: lass

   • 1776, John Woolman, chapter XI, in A Journal of the Life, Gospel Labours, and Christian Experiences of that Faithful Minister of Jesus Christ, John Woolman, […] ‎^[1], Dublin: Printed by R. Jackson, page 209:

     How great is that danger, to which poor lads are now exposed, when placed on shipboard to learn the art of sailing! Five lads, training up for the seas, were now on board this ship; […]

   • 1850, T. S. Arthur, “Deacon Smith and his Violin”, in Sketches of Life and Character‎^[2], Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 70:

     The lad, his son, had obtained a Jew's-harp, and learned to play upon it the profane airs of "Yankee Doodle," "Hail Columbia," "St. Patrick's Day," and "Auld Lang Syne."

2. (British) A hedonistic or irresponsible young man; A Jack the lad.

   Coordinate term: ladette

   I think he reckons he’s a bit of a lad.

   Last night I was out drinking with the lads.

3. A familiar term of address for a young man.

   Come here, lad, and help me shift these boxes.

4. A groom who works with horses.

   Synonyms: stable boy, stable lad

5. (Ireland, colloquial) The penis.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses, page 225:

     — The lad stood to attention anyhow, he said with a sigh. She's a gamey mare and no mistake.

   • 1995 May 5, Graham Linehan, Arthur Matthews, “The Passion of St Tibulus”, in Father Ted:

     Mrs Glynn: Oh but there's this great bit in it. You see, there was this girl, but then you find out it's not a girl but a man!
     Mrs Sheridan: And he got his lad out.

   • 2007, anonymous author, translated by Ciaran Carson, The Táin, →ISBN, page 175:

     And he loaded the chariot with clods and boulders and cobbles that he fired at anyone who came to stare at him and jeer him, stark naked as he was, with his long lad and his acorns dangling down through the floor of the chariot.

   • 2010, Loucinda McGary, The Wild Irish Sea: A Windswept Tale of Love and Magic, →ISBN, page 11:

     Just thinking about how she would look without her clothes made his lad twitch with anticipation.

6. (scambaiting, Internet slang) A scammer.
   • 2020 March 11, Rover, “*** 419 EATER FORUM RULES - PLEASE READ ***”, in 419 Eater‎^[3]:

     [...] regardless whether you feel the lads may deserve to be subjected to those types of images.

• Prevalent in Northern English dialects such as Geordie, Mackem, Scouse and Northumbrian.

• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “LAD”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “lad”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “lad”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[4], archived from the original on 5 September 2024.
• “Lad”, in Palgrave’s Word List: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[5], archived from the original on 5 September 2024, from F[rancis] M[ilnes] T[emple] Palgrave, A List of Words and Phrases in Everyday Use by the Natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham […] (Publications of the English Dialect Society; 74), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1896, →OCLC.
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “lad”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN.

• lad at The Septic's Companion: A British Slang Dictionary
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “lad”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “lad”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• ADL, LDA, DLA, DAL, dal, ALD, Dal, Ald.

• IPA^(key): [ˈlat]

lad

1. genitive plural of lado

From Old Danish lat, from Old Norse latr, from Proto-Germanic *lataz, from Proto-Indo-European *lē(y)d-.

lad

1. languid, lazy, indolent

• ladhed

From Old Norse hlað (“heap, stack”).

lad n (singular definite ladet, plural indefinite lad)

1. bed (platform of a truck, trailer, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled), e.g. truckbed

lad

1. imperative of lade

• Audio:

  (file)

lad m (plural lads)

1. stable lad; stable hand

• “lad”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

lad

1. singular imperative of laden

lad

1. alternative form of ladde

lad

1. imperative of lade

• IPA^(key): /lɑːd/

From Proto-West Germanic *laidu, from Proto-Germanic *laidō. Cognate with Old High German leita (German Leite), Old Norse leið. Akin to līþan (“to go, travel, fare”).

lād f

1. carrying, bringing, leading
2. way, course
3. passage, watercourse
4. provision, sustenance

Strong ō-stem:

• lādmann
• lādsċipe
• lādtēow
• lǣdan

• Middle English: lod, lode
  • English: load, lode

From Proto-West Germanic *laidu, formally identical with Etymology 1 above. Akin to Old Frisian lēde, lāde (“leading, reasoning”) found in Old Frisian dēdlâde (“oath of purification”), Old High German leita (“justification, excuse”).

lād f

1. excuse (+ genitive for something)
2. apology (+ genitive for something)
3. defense or exoneration (+ genitive against an accusation)

Strong ō-stem:

• lādian
• werlād

• IPA^(key): /ˈlat/
• Rhymes: -at
• Syllabification: lad

lad f

1. genitive plural of lada

• lo (Sutsilvan)

From Latin lātus.

lad m (feminine singular lada, masculine plural lads, feminine plural ladas)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) wide, broad

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran) lartg
• (Puter, Vallader) larg

• laddie - most common usage

From Proto-Germanic *laidō. Cognate with Old High German leita (German Leite), Old Norse leið. Akin to līþan (“to go, travel, fare”).

• IPA^(key): /ɫad/, /ɫɑd/

lad (plural lads)

1. lad, boy

   Synonym: (Doric) loon

2. son
3. menial
4. male sweetheart

lad (nominative plural lads)

1. heart

• ladik