paddy

• IPA^(key): /ˈpædi/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ædi
• Homophone: Paddy

Borrowed from Malay padi (“paddy plant”). Doublet of palay.

paddy (countable and uncountable, plural paddies)

1. Rough or unhusked rice, either before it is milled or as a crop to be harvested. [from 17th c.]
   • 2011, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee:

     Taking out a handful of paddy the old woman exclaimed, “Look how good this paddy is! It is called Malbhog – it makes excellent puffed rice.”

2. (countable) A paddy field, a rice paddy; an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown. [from 20th c.]

English dialect paddy (“worm-eaten”).

paddy (comparative more paddy, superlative most paddy)

1. (obsolete) Low; mean; boorish; vagabond.
   • 1860, John Lothrop Motley, The United Netherlands:

     Even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy persons continued most destitute. The English soldiers became mere barefoot starving beggars in the streets […]

   • 1995, Maureen Borland, D.S. MacColl: Painter, Poet, Art Critic, page 41:

     Becca wrote to Lizzie of her brother's incessant demands: Suthie came to me in a very paddy state and said 'Now ... you must bind a book for me.'

   • 2015, Brian Keenan, An Evil Cradling, page 197:

     Now, now, we are getting very paddy today, aren't we John?

Possibly from Paddy (“Irishman”).

paddy (plural paddies)

1. A fit of temper; a tantrum.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tantrum

   throw a paddy etc.

   • 2013, Mike Brown, Adventures with Czech George, page 17:

     I like the story of the Emperor Frederick who got into a paddy with his cook, and shouted: 'I am the Emperor, and I want dumplings.'

2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A white person.
   • 2000, Requiem For a Dream, spoken by Big Tim (Keith David):

     You know what I like best about paddy chicks? They give good head. Black broads don’t know nothing about giving head. I don’t know why. Might be it has something to do with some ancient tribal custom.

3. (colloquial, England) A labourer's assistant or workmate.
4. A drill used in boring wells, with cutters that expand on pressure.

Perhaps after the paddy bird, or egret. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

paddy (plural paddies)

1. A snowy sheathbill.

• paddy paw

Borrowed from English paddy, from Malay padi.

• IPA^(key): /pa.di/

paddy m (plural paddys)

1. paddy (rice)

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