highfather

H4I1G2H4F4A1T1H4E1R1
UK/ˈhaɪˌfɑː.ðə/US/ˈhaɪˌfɑː.ðɚ/

noun

A respected, high-ranking male elder or leader; a patriarch; a forefather; a grandfather.

Scrabble 23

Meanings

nounhighfather (plural highfathers)

plural highfathers · alternative high-father · alternative high father

  1. rareA respected, high-ranking male elder or leader; a patriarch; a forefather; a grandfather.

    “I did not lie," said the High Father. “The odds of survival are grim. […]"

    2011, Matthew Cody, The Dead Gentleman
    3 more examples

    There is no active worship for the Highfather, except at meal time, when all Mischta look into the sky and offer a symbolic thanks to him, whom they call "the Grandfather."

    1990, Scott Haring, Scott Bennie, John Terra, Otherlands

    I do not have many powerful friends on earth, but rather they have gone forth, gone away from the joys of the world, sought for themselves the king of glory, they live now in heaven with the Highfather, dwell in glory.

    2003, Patrick Murray-John, The poetics of 'knowing' in Anglo-Saxon visions

    As she led him into the house, she told him that the High Father, her adoptive great-grandfather, was equivalent to a Supreme Court Justice.

    2005, Alfred D. Byrd, On the Wings of Dream

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Old Englishhēahfæder“patriarch”
  2. Middle Englishhehfader
  3. Englishhighfather

Perhaps from Middle English hehfader, heahfeder, from Old English hēahfæder (“patriarch”, literally “high-father”); or perhaps a direct revival of the Old English word. By surface analysis, high + father.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

highfather. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/highfather

MLA

“highfather.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/highfather. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “highfather,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/highfather.

Source: highfather on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.