Pa

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A casual, affectionate name a child uses for their father ; a fortified settlement built by the Māori people of New Zealand ; a loudspeaker system used to broadcast announcements to a crowd
2. An informal term for one's father ; a hilltop stronghold of the Māori in New Zealand ; the sound and equipment that amplifies speech for an audience in a hall or venue
3. Dad, as a familiar family term ; a defended village of the New Zealand Māori people ; an amplification setup that carries a speaker's voice across a large space

Etymology: Infants produce the lip-closing "p" and the open "a" early, so "pa" appears in nursery talk for "father" in many languages, often as half of a doubled form like "papa." As a family term, it is an informal, child-friendly name that needed no borrowing at all. The village sense is a different story. It comes from Māori "pā," a fortified settlement, often on a hilltop, ringed with palisades and earthworks. English borrowed the term from Māori to describe these sites in New Zealand, and it remains the standard English word for them. The third sense is the most modern and the most ordinary in origin: "PA" is short for public address, the name for a system of microphones, amplifiers and speakers that carries a voice across a large space.

Synonyms: dad, father, papa