"Dad bod" (shortened from "dad body") is a slang term referring to a body shape found mostly in middle-aged men. The phrase has been adopted in American culture to describe the physique of a man who was once athletic, but gained a noticeable amount of body fat around the waist as he aged, leading to him having a "beer belly". It is uncommon to use the phrase to describe someone who is generally unfit as the arms, legs, and chest of someone with a "dad bod" are usually still in good shape.
Clemson University student Mackenzie Pearson was the first to publish the term in a 2015 article titled "Why Girls Love the Dad Bod" on the crowdsourced publication platform Odyssey,[1] but did not claim to have invented it and said that she had heard it in many different social circles.[2] She routinely posted essays on her Odyssey account, and soon started making them humorous.[3][4] After her essay went viral, it was picked up by mainstream news media including MSN,[5]New York Daily News,[6]The Washington Post,[7] and Slate.[8]
