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Origin and history of cad

cad(n.)

1730, shortening of cadet (q.v.); originally used of servants, then (1831) of town boys by students at Oxford and English public schools (though at Cambridge it meant "snob"), then "townsman" generally. Compare caddie. The meaning "person lacking in finer feelings" is from 1838.

A cad used to be a jumped-up member of the lower classes who was guilty of behaving as if he didn't know that his lowly origin made him unfit for having sexual relationships with well-bred women. [Anthony West, "H.G. Wells: Aspects of a Life," 1984]

also from 1730

Entries linking to cad

caddie(n.)

1630s, "a cadet, student soldier," Scottish form of French cadet (see cadet). From 1730 as "person who runs errands;" meaning "golfer's assistant" is from 1851. A letter from Edinburgh c. 1730 describes the city's extensive and semi-organized "Cawdys, a very useful Black-Guard, who attend ... publick Places to go at Errands; and though they are Wretches, that in Rags lye upon the Stairs and in the Streets at Night, yet are they often considerably trusted .... This Corps has a kind of Captain ... presiding over them, whom they call the Constable of the Cawdys."

cadet(n.)

c. 1610, "younger son or brother;" 1650s, "gentleman entering the military as a profession;" from French cadet "military student officer," noun use of adjective, "younger" (15c.), from Gascon capdet "captain, chief, youth of a noble family," from Medieval Latin capitellum, "little chief," literally "little head" (hence, "inferior head of a family"), diminutive of Latin caput "head" (from PIE root *kaput- "head").

"The eldest son being regarded as the first head of the family, the second son the cadet, or little head" [Kitchin]. Younger sons from noble families were sent to French court to serve as officers, without first rising through the ranks or attending military school, after being attached to a corps without pay and enjoying certain privileges. This gave the word its military meaning "accepted candidate for a commission who is undergoing training to become an officer." The meaning "student at a military college" is from 1775.

Via the Scottish form cadee comes caddie "a messenger boy," especially one who carries clubs for a golfer, and slang cad.

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Trends of cad

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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bounder

1560s, "one who sets bounds," agent noun from bound (v.1). The British English slang meaning "person of objectionable social behavior, would-be stylish person," is from 1882, perhaps from bound (v.2) on notion of one trying to "bound" into high society, but earliest usage suggest

blackguard

1530s, "scullion, kitchen knave," of uncertain origin. Perhaps it is a reference to military units or attendants so called for the color of their dress or their character. It might have been originally a mock-military reference to scullions and kitchen-knaves of noble households,

dog

"quadruped of the genus Canis," Old English docga, a late, rare word, used in at least one Middle English source in reference specifically to a powerful breed of canine; other early Middle English uses tend to be depreciatory or abusive. Its origin remains one of the great myster

lout

Sense of "cad" is first attested 1857 in British schoolboy slang....

rebound

late 14c., rebounden, "to spring, leap," also "to spring back from a force or an impact," from Old French rebondir "leap back, resound; repulse, push back," from re- "back" (see re-) + bondir "leap, bound" (see bound (v.)). By early 15c. in the transferred or figurative sense of

heel

"back of the foot," Old English hela, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz- (source also of Old Norse hæll, Old Frisian hel, Dutch hiel), from a diminutive of PIE *kenk- (3) "heel, bend of the knee" (source also of Old English hoh "hock"). Meaning "back of a shoe or boot" is c. 1400. Do

god

also God; Old English god "supreme being, deity; the Christian God; image of a god; godlike person," from Proto-Germanic *guthan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch god, Old High German got, German Gott, Old Norse guð, Gothic guþ), which is of uncertain origin; perhaps

design

late 14c., "to make, shape," ultimately from Latin designare "mark out, point out; devise; choose, designate, appoint," from de "out" (see de-) + signare "to mark," from signum "identifying mark, sign" (see sign (n.)). The Italian verb disegnare in 16c. developed the senses "to c

finicky

1825, "dainty, mincing," from finical "too particular" (1590s), which perhaps is from fine (adj.) + -ical as in cynical, ironical (OED says "ultimate derivation" from the adjective "seems probable"). But finikin (1660s) "dainty, precise in trifles" has been proposed as a source,

pluck

Middle English plukken, "pull (something) off or out from a surface" (especially hair or feathers, but also teeth), from late Old English ploccian, pluccian "pull off, cull," from West Germanic *plokken (source also of Middle Low German plucken, Middle Dutch plocken, Dutch plukke

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