• tad •
Printable Version Pronunciation: tæd • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A lad or small boy. 2. A small amount, a little, sort of.
Notes: The heyday of today's Good Word was the 1950s but it is still around. When referring to small boys, it may be pluralized (tads) but in the sense of "a little" it is usually treated like a quantifier that is the antonym of a lot.
In Play: This word has been used to refer to small boys as recently as 1983, indicating that this meaning remains current: "We were surprised to see little tads already picking on little girls at the playground." However, it is used far more frequently as the antonym of a lot: "Well, yes, I would say that melting cheese in your coffee is a tad eccentric."
Word History: The best guess is that today's Good Word was shortened from tadpole in the latter half of the 19th century and used to refer to small boys. From there it slipped into the abstract modifier it is today in the US in the 1940s, reaching the height of its popularity in the 1950s. So, I hear you asking, where did tadpole come from? Tad is dialectal variant of toad, missing its O. Pole is a variant of a an old word, poll "head", borrowed from Dutch polle, which is the origin of an English word for a head count, poll (also in poll tax. (Today we offer more than a tad of thanks Larry Brady, the Stargazer of our Agora, from whose head sprang today's Good Word.)
P.S. - Register for the Daily Good Word E-Mail! - You can get our daily Good Word sent directly to you via e-mail in either HTML or Text format. Go to our Registration Page to sign up today!
