cad

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a man who behaves dishonorably, especially toward women

   He proved to be a cad, jilting her without a word.

Simplified etymology

Cad arose in the late 18th century as an abbreviation of Scottish caddie or standard English cadet, ultimately from Gascon French capdet, “little head” and hence “junior,” from Latin caput, “head.” It was used for a coach passenger privately picked up by the driver and, in university slang, for a man considered low or vulgar, perhaps originally an Oxford insult for a townsman; from this developed the sense of a man who behaves dishonourably toward a woman.

A clipping of cadet (originally meaning an assistant or odd-job man), from French cadet ('younger son'), from Gascon capdet, from Late Latin capitellum ('little head, chief'). The pejorative sense arose in 19th-century university slang.

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