Dad joke

A dad joke is a joke typically involving a pun, often presented as a one-liner or a question and answer. Generally inoffensive, dad jokes are told with sincere humorous intent or to provoke a negative "groaning" reaction to their overly simplistic humor. Dad jokes are so-called because they are stereotypically thought to be those a father figure would tell to a child.

Dad jokes have been published under that name at least as early as 1987, and in 2017, #dadjokes became one of the most popular hashtags on Twitter. The phrase was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2019, and several major magazines have published compilations, such as Today's list of 330 "corny one-liners, dumb puns and groan-worthy dad jokes" in October 2025.