The story
- Old English · learned borrowing fromfæder“father”
- English todayfaeder
Learned borrowing from Old English fæder (“father”). Doublet of ayr, father, padre, pater, and père.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
faeder
Today it means: A male ruff (bird, Philomachus pugnax, syn. Calidris pugnax) that permanently mimics a female so as to gain access to mating territories and "steal" matings. Full definition →
Old English fæder