connected with being a father; typical of a kind father 父亲的；慈父般的 paternal love 父爱 He gave me a piece of paternal advice. 他给了我慈父般的忠告。 Her weakness made him feel very paternal towards her. 她的软弱让他觉得对她很像父亲。
related through the father’s side of the family 父系的 my paternal grandmother (= my father’s mother) 我的祖母
Word Originlate Middle English: from late Latin paternalis, from Latin paternus ‘fatherly, belonging to a father’, from pater ‘father’.