paddy

See also: Paddy

English

WOTD – 16 December 2006

A rice paddy in Bengal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpædi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ædi
• Homophone: Paddy

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Malay padi (“paddy plant”). Doublet of palay.

Noun

paddy (countable and uncountable, plural paddies)

1. Rough or unhusked rice, either before it is milled or as a crop to be harvested. [from 17th c.]
   • 2011, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee:

     Taking out a handful of paddy the old woman exclaimed, “Look how good this paddy is! It is called Malbhog – it makes excellent puffed rice.”

2. (countable) A paddy field, a rice paddy; an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown. [from 20th c.]

Derived terms

• paddy bird
• rice paddy herb

 

Translations

rice unmilled

• Assamese: ধান (dhan)
• Bengali: ধান (bn) (dhan)
• Bikol Central: pasi, tipasi (bcl)
• Bulgarian: арпа f (arpa)
• Burmese: စပါး (my) (ca.pa:), ကောက် (my) (kauk)
• Cebuano: pasi, tipasi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 稻 (zh) (dào)

• Finnish: kuorimaton riisi, paddy (fi)
• French: paddy (fr) m, riz paddy m
• Gujarati: ધાન (gu) (dhān) સાળ (sāḷ) ડાંગર (gu) (ḍā̃gar)
• Hindi: धान (hi) (dhān)
• Ilocano: pagay
• Indonesian: padi (id)
• Italian: risone m
• Japanese: 稲 (ja) (ine)
• Javanese: pari (jv)
• Kapampangan: pale
• Kazakh: шалы (şaly)
• Korean: 벼 (ko) (byeo)
• Malay: padi (ms)
• Malayalam: നെല്ല് (ml) (nellŭ)
• Ottoman Turkish: چلتیك (çeltik)
• Punjabi: ਝੋਨਾ m (jhonā)
• Russian: ри́с-па́дди m (rís-páddi), необру́шенный ри́с m (neobrúšennyj rís), ри́с-сыре́ц m (rís-syréc)
• Sinhalese: කුඹුර (si) (kuᵐbura)
• Spanish: arroz con cáscara m, arroz en cáscara m
• Tagalog: palay (tl)
• Telugu: వడ్లు (te) (vaḍlu), అరికెలు (arikelu)
• Thai: ข้าวเปลือก (th) (kâao-bplʉ̀ʉak)
• Turkish: çeltik (tr)
• Welsh: reis cibynnog m

wet land where rice grows

• Acehnese: blang
• Afrikaans: rys veld
• Albanian: orizore (sq) m
• Arabic: حَقْل اَلْأَرُزّ m (ḥaql al-ʔaruzz)
• Assamese: ধাননি (dhanoni)
• Banjarese: pahumaan (bjn)
• Belarusian: рысавыя палі m (rysavyja pali)
• Bengali: ধানজমি (dhanjômi)
• Bikol Central: kabasan (bcl), paruyan
• Bulgarian: оризище m (orizište)
• Burmese: လယ် (my) (lai)
• Catalan: arrossar (ca) m
• Cebuano: humayan, kahumayan, pilapil
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 稻田 (dou⁶ tin⁴)

  Mandarin: 稻田 (zh) (dàotián), 水田 (zh) (shuǐtián)

• Czech: rýžové pole m
• Danish: rismark (da) n
• Dutch: rijstveld (nl) n
• Esperanto: rizejo
• Estonian: riisipõld (et)
• Finnish: riisipelto (fi)
• French: rizière (fr) f
• Galician: arrozal (gl) m
• German: Reisfeld (de) n
• Greek: ορυζώνας (el) m (oryzónas)
• Hebrew: שדה אורז m
• Hindi: धान का क्षेत्र m (dhān kā kṣetra)
• Hungarian: rizsföld (hu)
• Icelandic: hrísgrjónaakur (is) m
• Indonesian: sawah (id), sawah padi
• Ingrian: riissupelto
• Italian: risaia (it) f
• Japanese: 田 (ja) (た, ta), 水田 (ja) (すいでん, suiden), 田んぼ (ja) (tanbo)
• Javanese: sawah (jv)
• Khmer: ស្រែ (km) (srae)
• Korean: 논 (ko) (non), 답(畓) (ko) (dap), 수전(水田) (ko) (sujeon)
• Lao: ນາ (nā), ນາເຂົ້າ (nā khao)
• Lithuanian: lietinimas m
• Lü: ᦓᦱ (naa)
• Macedonian: оризово поле m (orizovo pole)
• Malagasy: akotry (mg)
• Malay: sawah, sawah padi
• Malayalam: നെല്പാടം (nelpāṭaṁ), പാടം (ml) (pāṭaṁ)
• Maori: māra raihi
• Northern Thai: ᨶᩣ
• Norwegian: rismark m
• Ottoman Turkish: چلتیك (çeltik)
• Persian: شالیزار (fa) (šâlizâr)
• Polish: ryżowe pole m
• Portuguese: arrozal (pt) m
• Romanian: orezărie (ro) f
• Russian: ри́совое по́ле n (rísovoje póle)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рижино поље m, пиринчано поље m

  Roman: rižino polje m, pirinčano polje m

• Shan: ၼႃး (shn) (náa)
• Spanish: arrozal (es) m
• Sundanese: sawah
• Swedish: risfält (sv) n
• Tagalog: palayan
• Tamil: நெல் வயல் (ta) (nel vayal)
• Tày: nà
• Thai: นา (th) (naa), นาข้าว
• Tulu: ಬೆನ್ನಿ (tcy) (benni)
• Turkish: pirinç tarlası, çeltik tarlası (tr)
• Vietnamese: ruộng lúa
• Volapük: risataläned (vo)
• Welsh: cae reis m
• Zhuang: naz

Etymology 2

English dialect paddy (“worm-eaten”).

Adjective

paddy (comparative more paddy, superlative most paddy)

1. (obsolete) Low; mean; boorish; vagabond.
   • 1860, John Lothrop Motley, The United Netherlands:

     Even after the expiration of four months the condition of the paddy persons continued most destitute. The English soldiers became mere barefoot starving beggars in the streets […]

   • 1995, Maureen Borland, D.S. MacColl: Painter, Poet, Art Critic, page 41:

     Becca wrote to Lizzie of her brother's incessant demands: Suthie came to me in a very paddy state and said 'Now ... you must bind a book for me.'

   • 2015, Brian Keenan, An Evil Cradling, page 197:

     Now, now, we are getting very paddy today, aren't we John?

Etymology 3

Possibly from Paddy (“Irishman”).

Noun

paddy (plural paddies)

1. A fit of temper; a tantrum.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:tantrum

   throw a paddy etc.

   • 2013, Mike Brown, Adventures with Czech George, page 17:

     I like the story of the Emperor Frederick who got into a paddy with his cook, and shouted: 'I am the Emperor, and I want dumplings.'

2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A white person.
   • 2000, Requiem For a Dream, spoken by Big Tim (Keith David):

     You know what I like best about paddy chicks? They give good head. Black broads don’t know nothing about giving head. I don’t know why. Might be it has something to do with some ancient tribal custom.

3. (colloquial, England) A labourer's assistant or workmate.
4. A drill used in boring wells, with cutters that expand on pressure.

Descendants

• Krio: pàdí

Etymology 4

Perhaps after the paddy bird, or egret. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

paddy (plural paddies)

1. A snowy sheathbill.

See also

• paddy paw

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English paddy, from Malay padi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.di/

Noun

paddy m (plural paddys)

1. paddy (rice)

Further reading

• “paddy”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.