paternity
nounUK /pəˈtɜːnɪti/ · US /pəˈtɜɹnəti/
Etymology From Middle French paternité, from Old French, from Latin paternitās (“paternity”), from paternus (“of or pertaining to a father, paternal”) + -itās, from pater (“father”).
1
Fatherhood, the state or quality of being a father.
2
Parental descent from a father.
3
Law Legal acknowledgement of a man's fatherhood of a child.
4
Figuratively Authorship.
- The author asserted her right to paternity on the book's copyright page.
- Derived terms
- grandpaternity, heteropaternity, nonpaternity, paternity leave, paternity suit, paternity test, primipaternity
- Related terms
- affiliation, maternity