Other forms: lads
A lad is a boy or a young man, said in a friendly old-fashioned way. Warm rather than formal.
It is northern and Irish in flavour and used affectionately across Britain, especially in the plural, since the lads means a group of male friends. A night out with the lads is a fixed phrase. Modern British English added a slightly unflattering sense, since lad culture and being a bit of a lad describe loud drinking and showing off. The female equivalent is lass, which is used far less often.
1nounladA boy or young man.
“He was a quiet lad who kept to himself.”
Middle English
ladde
English, today
lad
From Middle English ladde. From Middle English ladde (“foot soldier, servant; male commoner; boy”), from late Old English ladda (attested in Old English personal byname Ladda), probably of gmq - origin. Compare Old Norse ladd (“hose, woolen stocking; sock”), which may have undergone semantic shift to mean a term of abuse (e.g. foolish youth, youngster of lower social status, etc.); thence by connotative amelioration coming to mean any young fellow. Compare Norwegian ladd (“rough sock, woolen or felt slipper”) and the -ladd in compounds Askeladd/Askeladden (a nickname in fairy tales, "Ash Lad") and tusseladd (“nincompoop”). See also Swedish ladder (“old shoes”), lodde (“Frisian shoe”), lädder (“socks”), all said to be related to Old Norse loðinn (“hairy, shaggy, woolly”), loddi (“shaggy dog”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA