Father

Father

A father (or dad) is defined as a male parent or Individual progenitor of human offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to a father and comparatively to "maternal" for a mother. The verb "to father" means to procreate or to sire a child from which also derives the gerund "fathering". Fathers determine the gender of their child through a sperm cell which either contains an X chromosome (female), or Y chromosome (male).

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Famous quotes containing the word father:

    “When we say a woman is of a certain social class, we really mean her husband or father is.”
    —Zoë Fairbairns (b. 1948)

    “We are not a nation, so much as a world; for unless we claim all the world for our sire, like Melchisedec, we are without father or mother.”
    —Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    “My father ... pick’d up an opinion, Sir, as a man in a state of nature picks up an apple.—It becomes his own,—and if he is a man of spirit, he would lose his life rather than give it up.”
    —Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)