paddy

noun (1)

pad·dy | \ ˈpa-dē

variants: or less commonly padi

plural paddies also padis

Definition of paddy

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : rice especially : threshed unmilled rice

2 : wet land in which rice is grown

Paddy

noun (2)

Pad·dy | \ ˈpa-dē

plural Paddies

Definition of Paddy (Entry 2 of 2)

slang, often disparaging + offensive

: irishman

Examples of paddy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

At midnight, gunshots and screams shattered the silence of paddy fields. — Gaia Vince, Quartz, "How to survive in the world’s largest refugee camp," 8 June 2019 What & WhereThe Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s rice basket—a watery landscape of floating markets, stilt houses, Khmer-style pagodas, and rippling green paddies. — Peter Jon Lindberg, Condé Nast Traveler, "How to Take Your Vietnam Trip to the Next Level," 20 Nov. 2018 In a muddy clearing about half the size of a football field, several thousand rice paddy planters and taxi drivers join an elbow-to-elbow scrum, waiting in darkness in Jerlun, a rural village in northwest Malaysia. — Laignee Barron / Kedah, Time, "Mahathir Mohamad’s Last Stand: Malaysia's Aging Strongman Seeks to Unseat His Protégé," 8 May 2018 Our guide, Lach Kim Chhen, takes dirt roads through caught-in-time villages, past rice paddies and muddy fields thick with cotton-candy-pink lotus flowers, instead of driving the faster, paved road. — Rebecca Misner, Condé Nast Traveler, "Going Deeper in Cambodia," 19 Nov. 2018 My mother, blocked from going to college, worked on rice paddies and cotton fields—part of a Stalinist experiment in food self-sustainability. — András Szántó, Condé Nast Traveler, "Why Budapest Is Europe's Unlikely Capital of Hedonism," 29 Aug. 2018 Bell depicts men outfitted with LMS flying anywhere from 20 to 100 feet above the ground, enough to show the ground below (and in one case, enemies wearing rice paddy hats). — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "U.S. Troops Could Have Fought the Vietnam War With Jetpacks," 1 Aug. 2018 The final days of the tour are spent on the magical island of Bali, noted for its terraced, bright green rice paddies. — Phil Marty, chicagotribune.com, "A wild look at Indonesia, a lauded hotel at a winning price and more," 2 July 2018 But military hardware aside, the base could be a suburban slice of Anytown U.S.A., laid over Pyeoungtaek’s rice paddies. — Time, "Inside Camp Humphreys, South Korea: America's Largest Overseas Military Base," 13 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'paddy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.