A father (or dad) is a male parent who has raised a child, supplied the sperm through sexual intercourse or sperm donation which grew into a child, and/or donated a body cell which resulted in a clone. The adjective “paternal” refers to a father and comparatively to “maternal” for a mother. The verb “to father” means to procreate or to sire a child from which also derives the noun “fathering”. Fathers determine the sex of their child through a sperm cell which either contains an X chromosome (female), or Y chromosome (male). Related terms of endearment are dad, daddy, pa, papa, poppa, pop, and pops. A male role-model that children can look up to is sometimes referred to as a father-figure.