Padre

How to spell padre

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce padre

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does padre mean?

1. nounA chaplain serving with the armed forces, or more generally a priest.

Padre in a sentence

• The padre held a short service for the troops before they shipped out.

• Soldiers often confided in the padre when they could not talk to anyone else.

Where does padre come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Padre comes ultimately from the Latin pater, meaning simply 'father', the same root that gives us 'paternal' and 'patriarch'. In Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese the word for 'father' became padre, and these languages used it both for an actual parent and as a title of respect for a priest, just as English speakers call a clergyman 'Father'. English picked the word up in the sixteenth century from sailors and soldiers who met Catholic clergy in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese ports and colonies. By the nineteenth century, especially in the British army and navy, padre had settled into its familiar role as an affectionate term for a military chaplain. The spelling keeps the Romance ending -re rather than an English -er, which is the small trap: it is spelled like the Italian and Spanish original, not respelled to match how English usually writes that final sound.

How the word is built

• padre (from Latin pater: father), borrowed unchanged through Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese