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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

glad.

Pleased; happy; gratified.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɡlæd/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡlad/British, Southern, Standard/ɡlaːd/British, Southern, Standard/ɡlæːd/Australia

  1. Pleased; happy; gratified.

    predicative · usually
    I'm glad the rain has finally stopped.
    I'm always glad to be of service.

  2. Having a bright or cheerful appearance; expressing or exciting joy; producing gladness.

    obsolete · predicative · usually
Where this word comes from

From Middle English glad, gled, from Old English glæd (“shining; bright; cheerful; glad”), from Proto-Germanic *gladaz (“shiny; gleaming; radiant; happy; glossy; smooth; flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”). Cognate with Scots gled, glaid (“shining; bright; glad”), Saterland Frisian glääd (“smooth; sleek”), West Frisian glêd (“smooth”), Dutch glad (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), German glatt (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish glad (“glad; happy; cheerful”), Icelandic glaður (“glad; joyful; cheery”), Latin glaber (“smooth; hairless; bald”), Russian гла́дкий (gládkij, “smooth”). Doublet of glatt.

verb/ɡlæd/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡlad/British, Southern, Standard/ɡlaːd/British, Southern, Standard/ɡlæːd/Australia

  1. To make glad.

    archaic · predicative · transitive · usually
Where this word comes from

From Middle English glad, gled, from Old English glæd (“shining; bright; cheerful; glad”), from Proto-Germanic *gladaz (“shiny; gleaming; radiant; happy; glossy; smooth; flat”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, from *ǵʰelh₂- (“to shine”). Cognate with Scots gled, glaid (“shining; bright; glad”), Saterland Frisian glääd (“smooth; sleek”), West Frisian glêd (“smooth”), Dutch glad (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), German glatt (“smooth; sleek; slippery”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish glad (“glad; happy; cheerful”), Icelandic glaður (“glad; joyful; cheery”), Latin glaber (“smooth; hairless; bald”), Russian гла́дкий (gládkij, “smooth”). Doublet of glatt.

noun/ɡlæd/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ɡlad/British, Southern, Standard/ɡlaːd/British, Southern, Standard/ɡlæːd/Australia

  1. A gladiolus (plant).

    informal · predicative · usually
Where this word comes from

Abbreviation of gladiolus.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.