daughter

[ daw-ter ]

noun

1. a female child or person in relation to her parents.
2. any female descendant.
3. a person related as if by the ties binding daughter to parent:

   daughter of the church.

4. anything personified as female and considered with respect to its origin:

   The United States is the daughter of the 13 colonies.

5. Chemistry, Physics. an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.

adjective

1. Biology. pertaining to a cell or other structure arising from division or replication:

   daughter cell; daughter DNA.

daughter

/ ˈdɔːtə /

noun

1. a female offspring; a girl or woman in relation to her parents
2. a female descendant
3. a female from a certain country, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment, etc filial

   a daughter of the church

4. archaic.
   often capital a form of address for a girl or woman

adjective

1. biology denoting a cell or unicellular organism produced by the division of one of its own kind
2. physics (of a nuclide) formed from another nuclide by radioactive decay

Derived Forms

• ˈdaughterly, adjective
• ˈdaughterliness, noun
• ˈdaughterhood, noun
• ˈdaughter-ˌlike, adjective
• ˈdaughterless, adjective

Other Words From

• daughter·less adjective
• daughter·like adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of daughter¹

before 950; Middle English doughter, Old English dohtor; cognate with German Tochter, Greek thygátēr, Sanskrit duhitā

Word History and Origins

Origin of daughter¹

Old English dohtor; related to Old High German tohter daughter, Greek thugatēr, Sanskrit duhitá

Related Words

• child
• descendant
• female offspring
• girl
• kid
• offspring