mad

See also: MAD and mäd

English

Etymology

From Middle English madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣdd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mæd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æd

Adjective

mad (comparative madder, superlative maddest)

1. Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.

   You want to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes? Are you mad?

   He's got this mad idea that he's irresistible to women.

   • Shakespeare

     I have heard my grandsire say full oft, / Extremity of griefs would make men mad.

2. (chiefly US; UK dated + regional) Angry, annoyed.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 6, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.

   Are you mad at me?

3. Wildly confused or excited.

   to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred

   • Bible, Jer. 1. 88

     It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

   • 1787: The Fair Syrian, R. Bage, p.314

     My brother, quiet as a cat, seems perfectly contented with the internal feelings of his felicity. The Marquis, mad as a kitten, is all in motion to express it, from tongue to heel.

4. Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
5. (colloquial, usually with for or about) Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.

   Aren't you just mad for that red dress?

6. (of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.

   a mad dog

7. (slang, chiefly Northeastern US) Intensifier, signifies an abundance or high quality of a thing; very, much or many.

   I gotta give you mad props for scoring us those tickets.   Their lead guitarist has mad skills.   There are always mad girls at those parties.

8. (of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.

Usage notes

Within Commonwealth countries other than Canada, mad typically implies the insane or crazy sense more so than the angry sense.

While within the United States and Canada, the word mad does generally imply anger rather than insanity, such usage is still considered informal. Furthermore, if one is described as having "gone mad" or "went mad", this will unquestionably be taken as denoting insanity, and not anger. Meanwhile, if one "is mad at" something or has "been mad about" something, it will be assumed that they are angered rather than insane. In addition, if the word is understood as being used literally, it will most likely be taken as meaning "insane". Also, in addition to the former, such derivatives as "madness", "madman", "madhouse" and "madly" purely denote insanity, irrespective of whether one is in the Commonwealth or in the United States.

Synonyms

• (insane): See also Wikisaurus:insane
• (angry): See also Wikisaurus:angry
• (slang: Intensifier, much): wicked, mighty, kinda, helluv, hella.

Translations

insane (adj.)

• Albanian: marrë (sq)
• Arabic: مَجْنُون‏‎ (ar) (majnūn)
• Armenian: խենթ (hy) (xentʿ), գիժ (hy) (giž)
• Breton: foll n, sot (br) n
• Catalan: boig (ca) m, boja (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 瘋狂 (zh), 疯狂 (zh) (fēngkuáng), 瘋 (zh), 疯 (zh) (fēng)

• Czech: šílený m
• Danish: vanvittig, skør, sindssyg (da), gal (da)
• Dutch: waanzinnig (nl), gek (nl), zot (nl)
• Esperanto: freneza
• Faroese: ørur, svakur
• Finnish: hullu (fi), mieletön (fi)
• French: fou (fr) m, folle (fr) f
• Galician: tolo m
• Georgian: გიჟი (giži), შეშლილი (šešlili), სულიერად ავადმყოფი (sulierad avadmq̇opi), შეურაცხადი (šeuracxadi)
• German: wahnsinnig (de), verrückt (de), toll (de), irre (de), geisteskrank (de)
• Greek: τρελός (el) m (trelós), παράφρονας m (paráfronas), φρενοβλαβής (el) m (frenovlavís), μανιακός (el) m (maniakós)
• Hebrew: מְשֻׁגָּע‏‎ (he) m (meshugá'), מְטֹרָף‏‎ m (metoráf)
• Hindi: पागल (hi) (pāgal)
• Hungarian: őrült (hu)
• Icelandic: ær (is)
• Ido: fola (io)
• Indonesian: gila (id)
• Italian: pazzo (it), folle (it), matto (it), insano (it)
• Japanese: 気が狂った (きがくるった, ki-ga kurutta), 狂しい (くるおしい, kuruoshii), 頭がおかしい (あたまがおかしい, atama-ga okashii)
• Javanese: edan (jv)

• Korean: 미친 (michin)
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: شێت‏‎ (şêt)

• Latin: delirus m
• Latvian: traks, ārprātīgs, vājprātīgs
• Lithuanian: pamišęs, nenormalus, beprotis, išprotėjęs
• Malay: gila
• Manx: meecheeallagh
• Ngarrindjeri: wurangi
• Norwegian: gal (no), sprø
• Old English: wōd, wōd
• Pashto: لېونی‏‎ (ps) (lewanay)
• Persian: دیوانه‏‎ (fa) (divâne)
• Pitjantjatjara: rama
• Polish: szalony (pl)
• Portuguese: louco (pt), maluco (pt)
• Russian: сумасше́дший (ru) (sumasšédšij), безу́мный (ru) (bezúmnyj), бе́шеный (ru) (béšenyj), душевнобольно́й (ru) m (duševnobolʹnój), невменя́емый (ru) m (nevmenjájemyj)
• Sardinian: maccu, iscassiadu m
• Scottish Gaelic: às a ciall f, às a chiall m
• Serbo-Croatian: lud (sh)
• Spanish: loco (es) m, trastornado (es) m
• Swedish: vansinnig (sv), galen (sv)
• Thai: บ้า (bâa), วิกลจริต (vi khon ja rit)
• Turkish: deli (tr), kuduruk (tr), beç
• Urdu: پاگل‏‎ (pāgal)
• Vietnamese: điên (vi), cuồng (vi)
• Volapük: lienetik (vo)

angry

• Breton: kounnaret (br), fuloret (br), fumet
• Danish: vred, gal (da)
• Dutch: boos (nl), kwaad (nl)
• Faroese: óður
• Finnish: vihainen (fi)
• French: fâché (fr) m, fâchée (fr) f, en colère (fr) m, f
• German: sauer (de), böse (de)
• Greek: έξαλλος (el) m (éxallos), εξοργισμένος (el) m (exorgisménos), τρελός (el) m (trelós)
• Indonesian: gusar (id)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: توره‌‏‎, تۆراو‏‎, عادز‏‎

• Norwegian: sint (no), sinna, olm
• Old English: wrāþ
• Pashto: لېویى‏‎ (lewanay)
• Portuguese: bravo (pt), nervoso (pt), irado (pt) m
• Spanish: enfadado (es) m, enojado (es) m
• Thai: บ้าคลั่ง (baa klaang)

wanting intensely

• Greek: μανιακός (el) m (maniakós), λυσσασμένος (el) m (lyssasménos)
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} gal etter

• Pashto: لېونی‏‎ (ps) (lewanay)
• Spanish: loco (es)

Adverb

mad (not comparable)

1. (slang, New England, New York and Britain, dialect) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.

   He was driving mad slow.

   It's mad hot today.

   He seems mad keen on her.

Synonyms

• (slang: Intensifier; very): hella; helluv; wicked

Verb

mad (third-person singular simple present mads, present participle madding, simple past and past participle madded)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To be or become mad. [14th-19th c.]
   • 1852, Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra:

     The imperial Elizabetta gazed with surprise at the youthful and unpretending appearance of the little being that had set the world madding.

2. (now colloquial US) To madden, to anger, to frustrate. [from 15th c.]
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second, Act V Scene 5:

     This musick mads me, let it sound no more.

   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069:, I.2.4.iv:

     He that mads others, if he were so humoured, would be as mad himself, as much grieved and tormented […].

Derived terms

Terms derived from mad (all parts of speech)

• mad as a hatter / mad hatter
• mad cow
• madden
• madding

• mad dog
• madhouse
• mad itch
• madly

• mad minute
• mad money
• mad scientist

Anagrams

• ADM, AMD, Adm., DMA, MDA, adm., dam

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Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.

Adjective

mad

1. good

Noun

mad

1. goodness

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Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse matr.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /mad/, [mað]

Noun

mad c (singular definite maden, not used in plural form)

1. food.

Inflection

Declension of mad

common gender	Singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	mad	maden
genitive	mads	madens

Derived terms

• babymad

Noun

mad c (singular definite madden, plural indefinite madder)

1. A slice of bread with something on top.

Usage notes

Very compound-prone; see for example ostemad or pølsemad.

Inflection

Declension of mad

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	mad	madden	madder	madderne
genitive	mads	maddens	madders	maddernes

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Lojban

Rafsi

mad

1. rafsi of marde.

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Old Irish

Verb

mad

1. third-person singular present subjunctive of masu
2. third-person singular past subjunctive of masu

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Palauan

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *mata, from Proto-Austronesian *maCa.

Noun

mad

1. (anatomy) eye (organ), face, facial expression
2. front; area, space or time in front of

   Medal a blik. ― In front of my house.

   El mo er a medad. ― In the future.

3. aperture, access, entrance

Inflection

Possessives of mad

		Singular	Plural
First	inclusive		medad
	exclusive	medak	medemam
Second		medam	medemiu
Third		medal	mederir

References

• mad in Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary, at tekinged.com.
• mad in Palauan-English Dictionary, at trussel2.com.
• mad in Lewis S. Josephs; Edwin G. McManus; Masa-aki Emesiochel (1977) Palauan-English Dictionary, University Press of Hawaii, ISBN 9780824804503, page 139.

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Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mad, from Proto-Celtic *matis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑːd/

Adjective

mad (feminine singular mad, plural mad)

1. good
2. lucky, fortunate
3. suitable

Noun

mad m

1. goodness

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
mad	fad	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.