zaddy

English

Etymology

An alteration of daddy, popularized by American rapper Ty Dolla Sign's 2016 song by this name. The origin of the z- is unclear; it may represent the idea of being "the ultimate daddy" as z is the last letter of the alphabet, or it may have been formed by assibilation of the /d/ phoneme preceding /æ/ in the first syllable noted in Hispanic populations of New York and Miami, the latter being the origin of the girl subject of Ty's song.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzædi/
• Rhymes: -ædi

Noun

zaddy (plural zaddies)

1. (originally African-American Vernacular, slang) A handsome, fashionable man, especially an older man.
   • 2016, “Zaddy”, in Campaign, performed by Ty Dolla $ign:

     She keep on callin' me zaddy, that lil' baby got a fatty

   • 2023 March 18, Jo Ellison, “Have you got zaddy issues?”, in FT Weekend, page 21:

     As someone who can shoot on target, keep watch while you sleep and look smoking in a leather jacket or a sparkly, silver lurex sweater, [Pedro Pascal is] the poster boy for what the zaddy's all about.