cad
/kæd/noun
cad is spelled C-A-D: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, cad means “A low-bred, presuming person; a mean, vulgar fellow, especially one that cannot be trusted with a lady” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of cad is cads.
How many letters and syllables are in cad?
| Letters | 3: C-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.6 times per million words; the 16,896th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is cad?
Cad appears 2.6 times per million words in written English, the 16,896th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cad?
- /kæd/
Cad has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-cad.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cad
- cads plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- cadding participle, present
- cadded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cad mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A low-bred, presuming person; a mean, vulgar fellow, especially one that cannot be trusted with a lady.
- 2
archaicA person who stands at the door of an omnibus to open and shut it, and to receive fares; a bus conductor.
We will back the machine in which we make our daily peregrination from the top of Oxford-street to the city, against any buss on the road, whether it be for the gaudiness of its exterior, the perfect simplicity of its interior, or the nativ
- 3
IrelandUKobsoleteslangAn idle hanger-on about innyards.
- 4
A caddis (caddisfly larva).
noun
- 1
Acronym of computer-aided design.
- 2
Initialism of computer-aided drafting.
- 3
Initialism of control alt delete.
- 4
Initialism of cash against documents, an arrangement where the purchaser must pay the total price in cash in order to get shipping papers from the seller or (usually) a third party.
- 5
Initialism of coronary artery disease.
- 6
Initialism of computer-aided diagnosis.
- 7
Initialism of cold agglutinin disease.
- 8
Initialism of computer-aided dispatch.
verb
- 1
obsoleteto mat or felt together
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cad in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cad come from?
Short for caddie, from Scots, from French cadet, from Occitan capdet (“chief, captain”), from Latin capitellum, diminutive of caput (“head”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).