glad

See also: Glad, gläd, glað, and glåd

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlæd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (New York City, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore) IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɛəd/
• Rhymes: -æd
• Homophone: GLAAD

Etymology 1

From Middle English glad, gled, from Old English glæd (“shining; bright; cheerful; glad”), from Proto-Germanic *gladaz (“shiny; gleaming; radiant; happy; glossy; smooth; flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”).

Cognate with Scots gled, glaid (“shining; bright; glad”), Saterland Frisian glääd (“smooth; sleek”), West Frisian glêd (“smooth”), Dutch glad (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), German glatt (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish glad (“glad; happy; cheerful”), Icelandic glaður (“glad; joyful; cheery”), Latin glaber (“smooth; hairless; bald”), Russian гла́дкий (gládkij, “smooth”). Doublet of glatt.

Adjective

glad (comparative gladder or more glad, superlative gladdest or most glad) (usually predicative)

1. Pleased; happy; gratified.

   I'm glad the rain has finally stopped.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 10:1:

     A wise son maketh a glad father.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene 2]:

     Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd / To bear the tidings of calamity.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

     "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

2. (obsolete) Having a bright or cheerful appearance; expressing or exciting joy; producing gladness.
   • a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:

     Her conversation / More glad to me than to a miser money is.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Glad Eevening & glad morn crownd the fourth day.

Antonyms

• cranky
• depressed
• downcast
• heavy
• peevish
• sad
• sorrowful

 

Derived terms

• engladden
• glad and sorry
• gladden
• glad-eye
• glad-hand
• glad hand
• glad-handed
• glad-hander
• glad-handing
• gladly
• glad rags
• glad tidings
• glad wrap

 

Translations

happy, pleased, satisfied

• Albanian: gëzuar (sq)
• Arabic: فَرِح (ar) (fariḥ)
• Azerbaijani: şad (az)
• Bashkir: шат (şat)
• Belarusian: ра́ды (rády), шчаслі́вы (be) (ščaslívy), задаво́лены (zadavóljeny)
• Bulgarian: дово́лен (bg) (dovólen), охотен (bg) (ohoten), ра́достен (bg) (rádosten), склонен (bg) (sklonen), щастли́в (bg) (štastlív)
• Burmese: ပျော် (my) (pyau), ဝမ်းသာ (my) (wam:sa)
• Catalan: alegre (ca), content (ca)
• Chamicuro: pya'kijnani
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 高興／高兴 (gou¹ hing³)

  Mandarin: 高興／高兴 (zh) (gāoxìng)

• Czech: rád (cs), radostný (cs), šťastný (cs)
• Danish: glad (da)
• Dutch: blij (nl), gevallig, verheugd (nl)
• Esperanto: ĝoja
• Faroese: glaður m, glað f
• Finnish: iloinen (fi)
• French: content (fr), heureux (fr)
• German: froh (de), fröhlich (de)
• Greek: χαρούμενος (el) (charoúmenos)
• Hindi: प्रसन्न (hi) (prasann), ख़ुश (xuś), मगन (hi) (magan)
• Hungarian: (“to be glad”; a verb) örül (hu), (happy) boldog (hu), (cheerful) vidám (hu)
• Icelandic: glaður (is)
• Interlingua: gaudiose
• Irish: áthasach, áthasúil, áthas m (as a predicative, usually expressed by a construction with the noun)
• Italian: lieto (it), soddisfatto (it), appagato (it), compiaciuto (it)
• Japanese: 嬉しい (ja) (うれしい, ureshii)
• Korean: 기쁘다 (ko) (gippeuda), 반갑다 (ko) (ban'gapda)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: پێخۆشحاڵ (pêxoşḧall)

• Lao: ຍິນດີ (nyin dī)
• Latgalian: prīceigs
• Latin: gāvīsus, laetus (la)
• Latvian: priecīgs (lv)
• Lithuanian: džiaugsmingas
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: задоволен (zadovolen)
• Maori: uruhau
• Megleno-Romanian: bucuros
• Nahuatl: paquini (nah), paqui
• Plautdietsch: froo, schaftich
• Polish: zadowolony (pl), usatysfakcjonowany, szczęśliwy (pl), rad (pl), uradowany
• Portuguese: grato (pt), feliz (pt), alegre (pt), contente (pt)
• Romanian: bucuros (ro), vesel (ro)
• Russian: счастли́вый (ru) (sčastlívyj), ра́достный (ru) (rádostnyj), дово́льный (ru) (dovólʹnyj), рад (ru) (rad)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: за̏дово̄љан

  Roman: zȁdovōljan (sh)

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: rád, šťastný (sk)
• Slovene: vesel (sl)
• Spanish: contento (es), chocho (es), gustoso (es), alegre (es)
• Swedish: glad (sv), nöjd (sv), belåten (sv)
• Tatar: шат (tt) (şat)
• Thai: ดีใจ (th) (dii-jai), กระหยิ่ม (th), กรุ้มกริ่ม (th), ชื่น (th) (chʉ̂ʉn), บันเทิง (th) (ban-təəng), ปราโมทย์, ปริ่ม (th) (bprìm), ปรีดา (th), ปลื้ม (th) (bplʉ̂ʉm), ปิติ (bpì-dtì), หฤหรรษ์, เปรม (th) (bpreem), โสมนัส
• Ukrainian: ра́дий (rádyj), ра́дісний (rádisnyj), задово́лений (zadovólenyj), щасли́вий (uk) (ščaslývyj)
• Vietnamese: vui mừng (vi), vui lòng (vi), vui (vi)
• Volapük: fredik (vo)
• Walloon: binåjhe (wa) m or f, contin (wa) m
• Yiddish: צופֿרידן (tsufridn)
• Zhuang: please add this translation if you can

Verb

glad (third-person singular simple present glads, present participle gladding, simple past and past participle gladded)

1. (archaic, transitive) To make glad.

   Synonyms: cheer up, gladden, exhilarate

   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     that which gladded all the warrior train

   • 1725, Homer, “Book VII”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume II, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     Each drinks the juice that glads the heart of man.

   • 1922, A. E. Housman, Epithalamium, line 3:

     God that glads the lover's heart

Etymology 2

Abbreviation of gladiolus

Noun

glad (plural glads)

1. (informal) A gladiolus (plant).
   • 2008, Lynn Byczynski, The Flower Farmer, page 217:

     Glads are widely grown as cut flowers both in the United States and abroad.

Anagrams

• GDAL

Breton

Alternative forms

• gwlad

Etymology

From Middle Breton gloat (“kingdom, wealth”), from Proto-Brythonic *gwlad, from Proto-Celtic *wlatis (“sovereignty”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wélh₁tis ~ *h₂wl̥h₁téy-, from the root *h₂welh₁-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑːt/

Noun

glad f (plural gladoù)

1. arable land
2. patrimony, estate
3. (archaic) territory, country
4. (archaic) feudal domain

Inflection

Mutation of glad

	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard
singular	glad	c'hlad	unchanged	klad
plural	gladoù	c'hladoù	unchanged	kladoù

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse glaðr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlað/, [ˈɡ̊læð], [ˈklæð̠˕ˠ]
• Rhymes: -ad

Adjective

glad (neuter glad, plural and definite singular attributive glade, comparative gladere, superlative (predicative) gladest, superlative (attributive) gladeste)

1. happy, glad

References

• “glad” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch glat, from Old Dutch *glad, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣlɑt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: glad
• Rhymes: -ɑt

Adjective

glad (comparative gladder, superlative gladst)

1. smooth, polished
2. slippery

Declension

Declension of glad
uninflected	glad
inflected	gladde
comparative	gladder
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		glad	gladder	het gladst het gladste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	gladde	gladdere	gladste
	n. sing.	glad	gladder	gladste
	plural	gladde	gladdere	gladste
definite		gladde	gladdere	gladste
partitive		glads	gladders	—

Derived terms

• gladheid
• gladjanus
• gladweg
• op glad ijs bevinden
• spekglad
• spiegelglad

 

Descendants

• Berbice Creole Dutch: glati
• Negerhollands: glat
• → Aukan: gaata
• → Papiamentu: glad (dated)

Adverb

glad

1. completely, entirely (mostly along with verbs and adjective with a negative meaning)

Usage notes

The usage as an adverb is highly restricted to verbs such as vergeten (“to forget”) and bederven (“to spoil, to rot”) and adjectives such as mis (“wrong, incorrect”) and verkeerd (“wrong, incorrect”).

Middle English

Alternative forms

• glade, gladde, glaid, gled

Etymology

From Old English glæd, from Proto-West Germanic *glad, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlad/, /ɡlaːd/

Adjective

glad

1. joyful, merry, happy

Descendants

• English: glad
• Scots: gled, glaid
• Yola: glaude

References

• “glā̆d, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse glaðr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɽɑː/, /ɡlɑː/

Adjective

glad (neuter singular glad, definite singular and plural glade, comparative gladere, indefinite superlative gladest, definite superlative gladeste)

1. happy, glad

References

• “glad” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse glaðr. Akin to English glad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑː/

Adjective

glad (neuter singular glad, definite singular and plural glade, comparative gladare, indefinite superlative gladast, definite superlative gladaste)

1. happy, glad

References

• “glad” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑːd/

Verb

glād

1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of glīdan

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

Adjective

glad

1. glad

Declension

Positive forms of glad

Strong declension
gender	masculine		feminine		neuter
case	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	glad	glade, glada	glad	glada	glad	glad, glada
accusative	gladan, gladen	glada, glade	glada	glada	glad	glad, glada
genitive	glades, gladas	gladaro, gladoro, gladero	gladara, gladaro	gladaro, gladoro, gladero	glades, gladas	gladaro, gladoro, gladero
dative	gladumu, gladum, gladun, gladun, gladon, gladen, gladan	gladun, gladon, gladum	gladaro, gladaru, gladara	gladun, gladon	gladumu, gladum, gladun, gladun, gladon, gladen, gladan	gladun, gladon, gladum
Weak declension
gender	masculine		feminine		neuter
case	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	glado, glada	gladon, gladun	glada, glade	gladon, gladun, gladan	glada, glade	gladon, gladun
accusative	gladon, gladan	gladon, gladun	gladun, gladon, gladan	gladon, gladun, gladan	glada, glade	gladon, gladun
genitive	gladen, gladan	gladono, gladeno	gladun, gladan, gladen	gladono	gladen, gladan	gladono, gladeno
dative	gladon, gladen, gladan	gladon, gladun	gladun, gladan	gladon, gladun	gladon, gladen, gladan	gladon, gladun

Comparative forms of glad (weak only)

Weak declension
gender	masculine		feminine		neuter
case	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	gladoro, gladora	gladoron, gladorun	gladora, gladore	gladoron, gladorun, gladoran	gladora, gladore	gladoron, gladorun
accusative	gladoron, gladoran	gladoron, gladorun	gladorun, gladoron, gladoran	gladoron, gladorun, gladoran	gladora, gladore	gladoron, gladorun
genitive	gladoren, gladoran	gladorono, gladoreno	gladorun, gladoran, gladoren	gladorono	gladoren, gladoran	gladorono, gladoreno
dative	gladoron, gladoren, gladoran	gladoron, gladorun	gladorun, gladoran	gladoron, gladorun	gladoron, gladoren, gladoran	gladoron, gladorun

Superlative forms of glad

Strong declension
gender	masculine		feminine		neuter
case	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	gladost	gladoste, gladosta	gladost	gladosta	gladost	gladost, gladosta
accusative	gladostan, gladosten	gladosta, gladoste	gladosta	gladosta	gladost	gladost, gladosta
genitive	gladostes, gladostas	gladostaro, gladostoro, gladostero	gladostara, gladostaro	gladostaro, gladostoro, gladostero	gladostes, gladostas	gladostaro, gladostoro, gladostero
dative	gladostumu, gladostum, gladostun, gladostun, gladoston, gladosten, gladostan	gladostun, gladoston, gladostum	gladostaro, gladostaru, gladostara	gladostun, gladoston	gladostumu, gladostum, gladostun, gladostun, gladoston, gladosten, gladostan	gladostun, gladoston, gladostum
Weak declension
gender	masculine		feminine		neuter
case	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	gladosto, gladosta	gladoston, gladostun	gladosta, gladoste	gladoston, gladostun, gladostan	gladosta, gladoste	gladoston, gladostun
accusative	gladoston, gladostan	gladoston, gladostun	gladostun, gladoston, gladostan	gladoston, gladostun, gladostan	gladosta, gladoste	gladoston, gladostun
genitive	gladosten, gladostan	gladostono, gladosteno	gladostun, gladostan, gladosten	gladostono	gladosten, gladostan	gladostono, gladosteno
dative	gladoston, gladosten, gladostan	gladoston, gladostun	gladostun, gladostan	gladoston, gladostun	gladoston, gladosten, gladostan	gladoston, gladostun

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *goldъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡlâːd/

Noun

glȃd f (Cyrillic spelling гла̑д)

1. hunger

   (T)ko radi, ne boji se gladi. ― Who works, fears hunger not.

Declension

Declension of glad

	singular	plural
nominative	glad	gladi
genitive	gladi	gladi
dative	gladi	gladima
accusative	glad	gladi
vocative	gladi	gladi
locative	gladi	gladima
instrumental	glađu / gladi	gladima

Further reading

• “glad”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2024

Slovene

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *gȏldъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡláːt/

Noun

glȃd m inan

1. hunger

   Synonym: lakota

Further reading

• “glad”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “glad”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

Swedish

en glad smiley som ler [a happy smiley smiling]

Etymology

From Old Swedish glaþer, from Old Norse glaðr, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, derivation of Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shine”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑː(d)/

Adjective

glad (comparative gladare, superlative gladast)

1. happy, glad (feeling or causing happiness)

   Antonym: ledsen

   Jag blev glad när jag fick klappa den gulliga kaninen och fick en stor glass

   I was [became] happy when I got to pet the cute rabbit and got a big ice cream

   De blev glada när laget de hejade på vann

   They were [became] happy when the team they were rooting for won

   vara på glatt humör

   be in a happy mood

   en glad nyhet

   a piece of happy news

   glad och ledsen

   happy and sad

2. (somewhat colloquial, with i (“in”)) fond of

   Near-synonym: svår på

   vara glad i kvinnor / sprit

   be fond of women / alcohol [liquor]

   Jag är glad i dig

   I am fond of you [implies romantically]

Declension

Inflection of glad
Indefinite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative2
Common singular	glad	gladare	gladast
Neuter singular	glatt	gladare	gladast
Plural	glada	gladare	gladast
Masculine plural3	glade	gladare	gladast
Definite	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
Masculine singular1	glade	gladare	gladaste
All	glada	gladare	gladaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic

Derived terms

• glad i hatten (“drunk”)
• glad i hågen
• gladlynt

Related terms

• glädja
• glädje

References

• glad in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• glad in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• glad in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• lagd