glad

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 *gʰel- (“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”).

• IPA^(key): /ɡlæd/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Rhymes: -æd

glad (comparative gladder or more glad, superlative gladdest or most glad)

1. Pleased, happy, gratified.

   I'm glad the rain has finally stopped.

   • Bible, Proverbs x.1:

     A wise son maketh a glad father.

   • 1595, William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act III Scene 2

     Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd / To bear the tidings of calamity.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter II, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen, OCLC 12026604; republished New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1919, OCLC 491297620:

     "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal. I never did that. I always made up my mind I'd be a big man some day, and—I'm glad I didn't steal."

2. (obsolete) Having a bright or cheerful appearance; expressing or exciting joy; producing gladness.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Sir Philip Sidney

     Her conversation / More glad to me than to a miser money is.

   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     Glad evening and glad morn crowned the fourth day.

The comparative "gladder" and superlative "gladdest" are not incorrect but may be unfamiliar enough to be taken as such. In both American and British English, the forms "more" and "most glad" are equally common in print and more common in daily speech.

• sorrowful
• sad
• downcast
• peevish
• cranky
• heavy
• depressed

• engladden
• gladden
• gladly

glad (third-person singular simple present glads, present participle gladding, simple past and past participle gladded)

1. (archaic, transitive) To make glad

   Synonyms: cheer up, gladden, exhilarate

   • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden

     that which gladded all the warrior train

   • (Can we date this quote?) Alexander Pope

     Each drinks the juice that glads the heart of man.

   • 1922, A. E. Housman, Epithalamium, line 3

     God that glads the lover's heart

• gwlad

From Middle Breton gloat (“kingdom, wealth”), from Proto-Brythonic *gwlad, from Proto-Celtic *wlatis (“sovereignty”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wélh₁tis ~ *h₂wl̥h₁téy-, from the root *h₂welh₁-.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑːt/

glad f (plural gladoù)

1. arable land
2. patrimony, estate
3. (archaic) territory, country
4. (archaic) feudal domain

From Old Norse glaðr.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlad/, [ɡ̊læð]
• Rhymes: -ad

glad (neuter glad, plural and definite singular attributive glade, comparative gladere, superlative (predicative) gladest, superlative (attributive) gladeste)

1. happy, glad

• “glad” in Den Danske Ordbog

From Middle Dutch glat, from Old Dutch *glad, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz.

• IPA^(key): /ɣlɑt/

• Audio

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• Hyphenation: glad
• Rhymes: -ɑt

glad (comparative gladder, superlative gladst)

1. smooth, polished
2. slippery

• gladheid
• gladjanus
• spekglad
• spiegelglad

From Old Norse glaðr

• IPA^(key): /ɡɽɑː/, IPA^(key): /ɡlɑː/

glad (neuter singular glad, definite singular and plural glade, comparative gladere, indefinite superlative gladest, definite superlative gladeste)

1. happy, glad

• “glad” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse glaðr. Akin to English glad.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑː/

glad (neuter singular glad, definite singular and plural glade, comparative gladare, indefinite superlative gladast, definite superlative gladaste)

1. happy, glad

• “glad” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

From Proto-Germanic *gladaz

glad

1. glad

From Proto-Slavic *goldъ.

• IPA^(key): /ɡlâːd/

glȃd f (Cyrillic spelling гла̑д)

1. hunger

From Old Swedish glaþer, from Old Norse glaðr, from Proto-Germanic *gladaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰladʰ-, derivation of Proto-Indo-European *gʰel- (“to shine”).

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• IPA^(key): /ɡlɑːd/

glad (comparative gladare, superlative gladast)

1. happy, glad