tad
/tæd/noun
tad is spelled T-A-D: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Tad, the name). As a noun, tad means “A small amount; a little bit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of tad is tads.
How many letters and syllables are in tad?
| Letters | 3: T-A-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.4 times per million words; the 14,307th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tad?
Tad appears 3.4 times per million words in written English, the 14,307th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Tad, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tad?
- /tæd/
Tad 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: En-us-tad.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tad?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as tad.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dat.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tad
- tads plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tad mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
informalA small amount; a little bit.
Could you lean the picture to the left just a tad more?
- 2
USdatedslangA street boy; an urchin.
noun
- 1
Initialism of tobacco, alcohol and drugs.
- 2
Initialism of transboundary animal disease.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of TA
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Tad in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense a little bit:
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 tad come from?
1877, ‘young or small child’, probably a shortened form of tadpole. The extended meaning ‘small amount’ is first recorded 1915.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).