When used literally, the term "father" refers to a person's male parent.
* A "grandfather" is someone's father's father or someone's mother's father.
* A "forefather" is one of a person's male ancestors, such as his grandfather's grandfather.
* An "ancestral household" is a social unit of those people who are descended from one ancestor.
* A person who is "fatherless" does not have a father.
* An "orphan" is a person who has no parents. In Bible times widows were often not able to care for their children, so a child with a mother but no father could also be thought of as an orphan.
There are also several figurative uses of the term "father."
* The term "fathers" often refers to a person's male ancestors, such as his grandfather's grandfather.
* The term "father" can refer to a person who is the leader a group of related people or the source of something. For example, in Genesis 4 "the father of all who live in tents" could mean, "the first clan leader of the first people who ever lived in tents."
* The apostle Paul called himself the "father" of those he had helped to become Christians through sharing the gospel with them.