Pronunciation: ' fä- th ə r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English fader, from Old English fæder; akin to Old High German fater father, Latin pater, Greek pat ē r
Date: before 12th century
1 a : a man who has begotten a child also : SIRE 3 b capitalized (1) : GOD 1 (2) : the first person of the Trinity
2 : FOREFATHER
3 a : one related to another in a way suggesting that of father to child b : an old man ― used as a respectful form of address
4 often capitalized : a pre-Scholastic Christian writer accepted by the church as an authoritative witness to its teaching and practice ― called also church father
5 a : one that originates or institutes <the father of modern science> b : SOURCE <the sun, the father of warmth and light ― Lena M. Whitney> c : PROTOTYPE
6 : a priest of the regular clergy broadly : PRIEST ― used especially as a title
7 : one of the leading men (as of a city) ― usually used in plural
– fa · ther · hood \ - ˌ hu ̇ d \ noun
– fa · ther · less \ -l ə s \ adjective
– fa · ther · like \ - ˌ l ī k \ adjective or adverb