lad

CEFRC1

/læd/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A boy or young man, especially in informal British English.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A familiar term of address for a young man.

Examples

  • He is hardly more than a lad.

  • The lad leaned over and shouted into Tom's ear.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A hedonistic or irresponsible young man; A Jack the lad.

  2. A boy or young man.

  3. A groom who works with horses.

More examples

In context

  • Things have changed since I was a lad.

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

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

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The young blank helped his father carry heavy boxes from the truck into the storage room.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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...