Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Father.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Father: a word used chiefly by children.
  • noun A title formerly bestowed in the Christian church on bishops, and often on the inferior clergy, but now restricted to parish priests in the Greek Church.
  • noun In Mexico and Central and South America, the common potato, Solanum tuberosum.
  • noun A baboon; a papio or papion.
  • noun The specific name of the king-vulture of tropical America, sarcorhamphus or Gypagus papa. See cut under king-vulture.
  • noun A name, both generic and specific, of a coccothraustine bird of the Bonin Islands, Coccothraustes papa or ferrirostris, or Papa ferrirostris. Reichenbach;

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A child's word for father.
  • noun A parish priest in the Greek Church.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Dad, daddy, father; a familiar or old-fashioned term of address to one’s father.
  • noun informal A pet name for one's grandfather.
  • noun A parish priest in the Greek Orthodox Church.
  • noun The letter P in the ICAO spelling alphabet.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French; see papa in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Circa 17th century, from French papa, probably originally imitative of a child's early efforts at vocalization.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word papa.

Examples

  • She was only sixteen, and he was perfectly splendid; and she has plenty of money, and every one talked about it; and when she went anywhere, people looked, you know, and she liked it; but her papa is an old poke, so he 's sent them all away.

    An Old-Fashioned Girl 1950

  • "Why, '_Samson_'" the child said, -- "_that's what you call papa! _"

    The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 50, December, 1861 Various

  • 'Hideous monster! let me go; My papa is a Syndic — he is M. Frankenstein — he will punish you.

    Chapter 16 2010

  • Sorry Matthieu, you are adorable, but your papa is chaud!

    avocat - French Word-A-Day 2008

  • GALLAGHER: It seemed the religious world hung on his every word, but the streets remained silent, and Turks seemed pleased that the man they call papa had come to their country.

    CNN Transcript Dec 1, 2006 2006

  • "I don't know; something dreadful must have happened, for mamma and Fan are crying together upstairs, papa is shut up in the library, and Tom is raging round like a bear, in the dining-room."

    An Old-Fashioned Girl 1950

  • Will it not seem strange when the largest and finest book in papa's library is one written by his Louis?

    Runner of the Mountain Tops: The Life of Louis Agassiz 1939

  • He is interrogating her, how she is called, and where is she from, and how do they call papa, and how do they call mamma.

    Yama: the pit Bernard Guilbert Guerney 1904

  • "I'll not go down till papa is gone," she thought; "he'll ask me what is the matter with my eyes."

    The Wide, Wide World 1892

  • "Let me call papa -- he must be somewhere in the house -- he will know what to do!" she said, at last, trembling and white.

    Bressant Julian Hawthorne 1890

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Potato in Spanish

    July 4, 2007

  • Also, Pope in Spanish (when capitalized). Not a confusion you want to make in some circles.

    July 4, 2007

  • Years ago in Chile a restaurant owner very proudly gave me a translated menu, on which her daughter had written the English name of each item in pencil, beneath the Spanish name. Their steak with fried popes was excellent.

    July 4, 2007

  • I just *love* fried popes. You can't get them around here!

    July 4, 2007

  • Remember, you can't eat Fried Popes on Friday's during Lent.

    July 5, 2007

  • True! Thanks for the reminder. ;-)

    July 5, 2007

  • For its placement on the "What Is a Reesetee, Anyway?" list... EDIT: removed from said list.

    August 15, 2008

  • Oh, for the love of....

    NO!

    August 15, 2008

  • Whahahaha!

    August 15, 2008

  • Well, all right, I'll take it off. No need to get testy.

    August 15, 2008

  • Fried Popes? Henry VIII must be salivating in his grave.

    August 15, 2008

  • Testy? Horrified might be more like it. ;-)

    But you didn't have to remove it. Maybe make it a little more specific . . . say, Word Papa?

    August 16, 2008

  • No need to get horrified, then.

    See word papa.

    August 16, 2008

  • Ah, much better. *settling back down* Thanks, c_b. Have a cupcake. :-)

    August 16, 2008

  • AAAAGH!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!! *runs away*

    August 16, 2008

  • Bear should go the lair and enjoy the friends hanging out there. There is a crest to protect, don't forget.

    August 16, 2008

  • What? What? I was handing it to you! It was a gesture of thanks!

    Some bears and their sticky fur....

    August 16, 2008

  • Hey! Hey! Can you blame me for being cautious of people (or reesetees) who have a demonstrated history of smearing bears' fur with icing?

    Well? Can you?

    *daintily approaches proffered cupcake with a single daintily extended claw*

    August 16, 2008

  • bearclaws .... so ethticky ... and laden with calories ... much more calories than cupcakes ... have a medialuna inthtead. Perhaps with some MATE.

    Sí, reesetee. I am having the most awesome time of my life aquí. In case there was any doubt about it.

    Waves frantically at all fellow wordies, while preparing to leave the internet café.

    Chau-chau!

    August 16, 2008

  • in lunfardo: cancer, a hole in the socks, something beautiful, a beautiful young woman, drugs.

    (in other words, a term to be avoided by non-natives, methinks).

    August 18, 2008

  • Ethticky? Haha!

    *daintily picks up another dainty cupcake and places it daintily on chained_bear's single daintily extended claw. Verrrry daintily.*

    August 18, 2008

  • *daintily enjoys National Cupcake Day with ereethtee*

    August 18, 2008

  • Quechua word for potato, borrowed into the Spanish of the New World.

    June 12, 2010