Word.ws English Dictionary

'd

/d//d/

'd is the contraction of had.

'd is the contraction of would.

'd is the contraction of did.

Meaning of had

Verb

had

  1. (auxiliary) Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past.
    • I felt sure that I had seen him before.
  2. (archaic, auxiliary) As past subjunctive: would have.
    • Had I not known you were coming this evening, I'd have left at midday.

Meaning of would

Verb

would

  1. (auxiliary) Used to form the "anterior future", or "future in the past", indicating a futurity relative to a past time.
    • On my first day at University, I met the woman who would become my wife.
  2. (auxiliary) Used to, did repeatedly, habitually; indicates an action that happened several times in the past (cannot describe continuous states, as in I used to live in London)
    • When we were younger, we would cycle out to the beach most summer Sundays.
    Synonyms:
    used to
  3. (auxiliary) Was or were determined to; indicating someone's insistence upon doing something.
    • I asked her to stay in with me, but she would go out.
  4. (archaic, auxiliary) Wanted to.
    • And thenne at laste a-nother sayd that he wolde have eyren. Then the good wyf sayd that she understod hym wel.1490, William Caxton, Prologue to Eneydos
  5. (archaic, auxiliary) Used with ellipsis of the infinitive verb, or postponement to a relative clause, in various senses.
    • At which time he told me, he would to London that week, and so to Oxford.1694, John Strype, Memorials of The Most Reverend Father in God, Thomas Cranmer, Appendix page 68
  6. (auxiliary, obsolete) Wished, desired (something).

See all 16 meanings of would

Synonyms of 'd

Origin of 'd

Contraction of would or had.

Phrases with 'd

Questions about 'd

What is 'd the contraction of?
'd is the contraction of had.
How do you pronounce 'd?
'd is pronounced /d/.

Words near 'd in the dictionary

  1. 'cumber
  2. 'cumbers
  3. 'cuz
  4. 'cuzzi
  5. 'cuzzis
  6. 'd
  7. 'd best
  8. 'd better
  9. 'deed
  10. 'dillo
  11. 'dillos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 'd (page history and authors); had (page history and authors); would (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-'d.wav.

Cite this entry: “'d.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/%27d. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.