paternal

UK/pəˈtɜː.nəl//pəˈtɜɹ.nəl/

paternal adjective: of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family.

Adjective

paternal (comparative more paternal, superlative most paternal)

Of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family.
- paternal grandfather
- It was with a natural touch of pride that Norbourne Courtenaye paced his paternal hall, while waiting for his uncle, with whom he was going to ride.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Different Views of Youth and Age”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 93
1. Fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father.
2. Received or inherited from one's father.
  - Thus, ere the ſeeds of vice were ſown, / Liv'd men in better ages born, / Who plow'd with oxen of their own / Their ſmall paternal field of corn.a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Second Epode of Horace”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC...
3. Acting as a father.

Noun

paternal (plural paternals)

(rare) A person related through the father, or his side of the family; a paternal relative.
- Divide what? The estate that came from the father to the son. Amongst whom? The paternal brothers. If it means, that paternals and maternals shall now divide, as paternals formerly did, the whole sentence operates nothing; for without, the half blood on both sides, would have taken. But say it...1826 January, John Haywood, Judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court, “Jane C. Butler v. James M. King”, in George S. Yerger, William Frierson Cooper, editors, Tennessee Reports. Reports of Cases Argued...
- If there are both paternal and maternal uncles and aunts, the maternals take a third, even if there is only one of them, and whether male or female, and the paternals two-thirds, even though there is only one of them, and whether male or female. If the maternals are of one kind, a male has the...1869, Neil B[enjamin] E[dmonstone] Baillie, “Of Inheritance by ‘Nusub’ or Consanguinity”, in A Digest of Moohummudan Law on the Subjects to which It is Usually Applied by British Courts of Justice in...

paternal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

paternal in Hindi

of or pertaining to one's father: पैतृक paitŕk
fatherly; behaving as or characteristic of a father: पैतृक paitŕk
received or inherited from one's father: पैतृक paitŕk

paternal in Tamil

தந்தை வழி

paternal in Urdu

آبائی

paternal in Bengali

পৈতৃক, পিতৃসুলভ

More languagesFewer languages

paternal in Malayalam: പിതാവിനെ സംബന്ധിച്ച, പൈതൃകമായ, അച്ഛനുസമമായ
paternal in Kannada: ತಂದೆಯಂಥ, ತಂದೆಯ, ತಂದೆಯ ಕಡೆ ಸಂಬಂಧದ, ಪೈತೃಕ
paternal in Arabic: أَبَوِيّ ʔabawiyy
paternal in Persian: پدری pedari, پدرانه pedarâne

Examples of paternal in a sentence

The eldest son was usually given the name of his paternal grandfather, later children those of other relatives.1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon...
If it means, that paternals and maternals shall now divide, as paternals formerly did, the whole sentence operates nothing; for without, the half blood on both sides, would have taken.1826 January, John Haywood, Judge of the Tennessee Supreme Court, “Jane C. Butler v. James M. King”, in George S. Yerger, William Frierson...
Being a stepparent, -grandparent is a tough job that not everyone can do, but obviously the paternals think they're special and love them regardless fo^([sic]) whether they fit in or not.1997 October 15, Susan Rankin, “Need Advice!”, in alt.wedding (Usenet), archived from the original on 09 Dec 2025:
Of course it is quite possible to use one set for the paternals and the other for the maternals.1998 March 29, Manuel M Campagna, “Eurolang (was: ESPERANTO)”, in soc.culture.esperanto (Usenet), archived from the original on 09 Dec 2025:

All 34 example sentences with paternal

Forms of paternal

Adjective
comparative	more paternal
superlative	most paternal
alternative form (obsolete)	paternall
Noun
plural	paternals

Origin of paternal

From Old French paternal (“of a father”) (12th c.), from Vulgar Latin paternālis (“paternal”), from Latin paternus (“of or pertaining to a father, paternal”), from pater (“father”).

Phrases with paternal

Words that rhyme with paternal

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about paternal

What does paternal mean?: Paternal means of or pertaining to one's father, his genes, his relatives, or his side of a family.
What is paternal in Hindi?: Paternal in Hindi is पैतृक (paitŕk). See Paternal meaning in Hindi.
How do you use paternal in a sentence?: The eldest son was usually given the name of his paternal grandfather, later children those of other relatives.
What part of speech is paternal?: Paternal can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce paternal?: Paternal is pronounced /pəˈtɜː.nəl/ (UK).

Words near paternal in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: paternal (page history and authors); paternal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paternal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Paternal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paternal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); paternal (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-paternal.ogg.

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