father

Definition of Father

(noun) A male parent of a child.

Examples of Father

• Barack Obama is the father of Malia and Sasha.
  
• Homer Simpson is the father of Lisa, Maggie, and Bart on The Simpsons.

Father Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: fa·ther

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˈfɑðər/
• British English – /ˈfɑːðə/

Usage Notes

• Plural: fathers
• A father-in-law is a father by marriage (affinity) instead of blood (consanguinity); the father of your spouse.
• A single father (single-father) is a man raising children without a partner.
• A stepfather (step-father) is the non-birth father of an individual.
• A surrogate father sires a child for another individual.
• Misopaterism is the hatred of one’s father, patricide is killing one’s father; and filicide is killing one’s children.
• An individual’s biological father is called a genitor.
• The female equivalent of a father is a mother.
• The term (adjective) paternal means relating to an individual’s father. A paternal aunt, paternal uncle, paternal cousin, paternal grandfather, and paternal grandmother are relatives from your father’s side. Additionally, (noun) paternalism is treating an individual in a fatherly manner or (adverb) paternalistically.
• Informally called:
  • dad
  • dada
  • daddy
  • old man
  • pa
  • papa
  • pappa
  • pop
• Also called:
  • begetter
  • male parent
  • sire
• A father (verb) fathers a child by (verb) fathering during (noun) fatherhood and is (adjective) father-like or (adjective) fathery and (adverb) fatherly exhibits (noun) fatherliness.

Related Quotation

• “Patriarchy literally means ‘rule of the fathers’ and comes from the Old Testament—all power was given to male elders. Today, its meaning is more general: male domination of all the major institutions of society including government, religion, education, the economy, the military and the media” (Kaufman and Kimmel 2011:112).

Related Video

Additional Information

• Family and Kinship Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
• Word origin of “father” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com

Related Terms

• family
• genealogy
• grandfather
• grandmother
• husband
• kinship
• marriage
• mother
• parent
• wife

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Reference

Kaufman, Michael, and Michael S. Kimmel. 2011. The Guy’s Guide to Feminism. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.

Cite the Definition of Father

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “father.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 16, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/father/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

father. (2015). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/father/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2015. “father.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/father/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“father.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2015. Web. 16 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/father/>.