daughter
Americannoun
-
daughters
plural
-
a female child or person in relation to her parents.
-
any female descendant.
-
a person related as if by the ties binding daughter to parent.
daughter of the church.
-
anything personified as female and considered with respect to its origin.
The United States is the daughter of the 13 colonies.
-
Chemistry, Physics. an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.
adjective
noun
-
a female offspring; a girl or woman in relation to her parents
-
a female descendant
-
a female from a certain country, etc, or one closely connected with a certain environment, etc
a daughter of the church
-
archaic (often capital) a form of address for a girl or woman
-
biology denoting a cell or unicellular organism produced by the division of one of its own kind
-
physics (of a nuclide) formed from another nuclide by radioactive decay
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
daughterhoodnoun
-
daughterlinessnoun
-
daughter-likeadjective
-
daughterlessadjective
-
daughterlikeadjective
-
daughterlyadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of daughter
before 950; Middle English doughter, Old English dohtor; cognate with German Tochter, Greek thygátēr, Sanskrit duhitā
Explanation
A daughter is a female offspring, and while it is usually referring to the female child's relationship to her parents, it might be used to suggest any similar relationship, such as the organization “Daughters of the American Revolution.” The English word daughter appeared before the Tenth Century as the Old English dohtor and later the Middle English doughter. Any connected group of women might be referred to as "daughters," For example, the "daughters of Zion" of the Bible and the "Daughters of Elysium" in Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy" closing to his Ninth Symphony. If people say you are your mother's daughter, aside from pointing out the obvious they are saying the two of you have a lot in common.
Vocabulary lists containing daughter
List 6
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Spelling Practice, Unit 7
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Spelling Practice 1, Unit 8
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Then they went silent as he complained in interview after interview that he no longer saw his daughter, had never met Harry nor, later, his grandchildren.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
Finally comes the awful day when the Fords are told that their daughter will henceforth be officially considered a “long-term missing person.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The effect is especially disconcerting as this father and daughter navigate glad-handers and former Nazi collaborators in West Germany who are anxious to bury the past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
In that conversation, Arthur complained that the last time she saw her daughter, in 1978, the 12-year-old was wearing clothes she deemed immodest.
From Salon ● Oct. 23, 2026
You could label it however you wanted to, but if the daughter of the first ever female commander in chief didn’t make it through, I would be a big fat failure.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Known as Nonna Gracie, she moved from Italy to the US when she was 18 and worked multiple jobs at once to provide for her two daughters.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
One of the daughters, when approached by Fox News Digital, responded with a pointed question: “What’s your problem?”
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026
The property became a gathering place for relatives, with one of their daughters holding her wedding reception in the central atrium.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
“Beloved daughters of God!” she shouts, her Texas twang chicken-frying each word.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
Papá’s woman said, turning her nose up at us as she reached for her two sniveling daughters and pulled them close.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
