godfather

English

Etymology

From Middle English godfader, from Old English godfæder (“godfather”), equivalent to god +‎ father. Cognate with Old Saxon godfadar (“godfather”), Middle Dutch godvader (“godfather”), Danish gudfader, gudfar (“godfather”), Swedish gudfader, gudfar (“godfather”), Icelandic guðfaðir (“godfather”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑdfɑðɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒdfɑːðə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: god‧father

Noun

godfather (plural godfathers)

1. A man present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner; a male godparent who sponsors the baptism of a child.
2. A small post which is used in repairing a fence. For instance attached to and supporting an existing broken fence post.
3. A mafia leader.

Hypernyms

• godparent

Hyponyms

• godchild
• goddaughter
• godson

Derived terms

• godfatherhood
• godfatherism
• godfatherless
• godfatherlike
• godfatherly

 

Related terms

• godchild
• goddaughter
• godmother
• godparent
• godson

 

Translations

man present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner

• Arabic:

  Egyptian Arabic: شِبِين‎ m (šibīn)

• Armenian: կնքահայր (hy) (knkʿahayr), (dialectal) քավոր (hy) (kʿavor)
• Asturian: padrín (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: kirvə, xaç atası
• Basque: aitabitxi (eu)
• Bulgarian: кръстник m (krǎstnik)
• Catalan: padrí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 乾爹 (zh), 干爹 (zh) (gāndiē), 代父 (zh) (dàifù)

• Czech: kmotr (cs) m
• Danish: fadder c (male or female), gudfar c, gudfader c (archaic)
• Dutch: peter (nl) m, gevader m
• Esperanto: baptopatro
• Finnish: kummisetä (fi)
• French: parrain (fr) m
• Galician: padriño m, compadre m
• Georgian: ნათლიმამა (natlimama), ნათლია n (natlia)
• German: Pate (de) m, Firmpate (de) m, Patenonkel (de) m, Götti m (Swiss, Alemannic), Taufpate (de) m, Gevatter (de) m, Taufzeuge m, Gote (de) m (regional), Göd m (Austrian, Bavarian), Taufgöd m (Austrian), Firmgöd m (Austrian)
• Greek: νονός (el) m (nonós)
• Hebrew: סנדק‎ (he) m (sandak)
• Hungarian: keresztapa (hu)
• Ido: baptopatro (io)
• Indonesian: bapak baptis
• Irish: athair baistí m, oide baistí m
• Italian: compare (it) m (godfather of one's child), padrino (it) m (one's own godfather)
• Japanese: 代父 (だいふ, daifu), 教父 (きょうふ, kyōfu), ゴッドファーザー (goddofāzā), 名付け親 (なづけおや nazukeoya)

• Javanese: kaki among
• Latin: patrinus m
• Latvian: krusttēvs
• Macedonian: кум (mk) m (kum)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gudfar m, fadder m (male or female), dåpsvitne n (male or female)

  Nynorsk: gudfar m, fadder m (male or female), dåpsvitne n (male or female)

• Occitan: pairin (oc) m
• Oriya: ଧର୍ମ ବାପା (dhôrmô bapa)
• Polish: ojciec chrzestny (pl) m, chrzestny (pl) m
• Portuguese: padrinho (pt) m
• Romanian: naș (ro) m, nun (ro) m
• Romansch: padrin m, padregn m
• Russian: крёстный оте́ц (ru) m (krjóstnyj otéc)
• Scots: godfaither
• Scottish Gaelic: athair-baistidh m, goistidh m
• Serbo-Croatian: kum (sh) m
• Sicilian: cumpari m or m pl (godfather of one's child), padrinu m (one's own godfather)
• Slovak: krstný otec m (reflects his relationship to the baptized child); kmotor (sk) m (reflects his relationship to the parents of the baptized child)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kmótš m

• Spanish: padrino (es) m
• Swedish: gudfar (sv) c, gudfader (sv) c
• Tagalog: inaama, ninong (tl), padrino
• Taos: kumpàyli’ína
• Turkish: vaftiz baba, kirve (tr)
• Ukrainian: хрещений батько m (xreščenyj batʹko), хрещений m (xreščenyj)
• Volapük: hispönan
• Welsh: tad bedydd m
• Westrobothnian: faddar m
• Yup'ik: kelussnaq

post used in repairing a fence

mafia leader

• Bulgarian: кръстник m (krǎstnik)
• Czech: kmotr (cs) m
• Esperanto: baptopatro
• Finnish: kummisetä (fi)
• French: parrain (fr) m
• German: Pate (de) m
• Greek: νονός (el) m (nonós)
• Hungarian: keresztapa (hu)
• Italian: padrone (it) m

• Japanese: 親分 (oyabun)
• Macedonian: кум (mk) m (kum)
• Polish: ojciec chrzestny (pl) m
• Portuguese: padrinho (pt) m
• Romanian: naș (ro) m
• Russian: крёстный оте́ц (ru) m (krjóstnyj otéc)
• Serbo-Croatian: kum (sh) m
• Swedish: gudfader (sv) c
• Turkish: mafya babası

Verb

godfather (third-person singular simple present godfathers, present participle godfathering, simple past and past participle godfathered)

1. (transitive, often figuratively) To act as godfather or guardian to.
   • 1996, Ann Lane, The Rise and Fall of the Grand Alliance, 1941–45, page 61:

     Hull objected violently that aid had not been used to extract commitments on postwar economic policy; the joint chiefs had wanted bases; others in the military still wanted Britain to play only a minor, if any, role in the Pacific; and they were all apparently angry at the Treasury for godfathering the Quebec Agreement.

   • 2006, Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture, page 5:

     But months before, he'd agreed to godfather the premiere of The Godfather.

   • 2007 August 3, John F. Burns, “At Hussein Grave, Legend Lives as Fury Simmers”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     The grave site, humble as it is, reflects something more than a hometown’s determination to honor a fallen son, something that seems irreducible in the politics of Iraq: the refusal of the Sunni minority, who ruled Iraq for centuries until Mr. Hussein’s overthrow, to reconcile themselves to the assumption of power by the Shiite majority who won elections godfathered by the American occupation authority.

Further reading

• godfather on Wikipedia.Wikipedia