"D" Word Origins

Dana

Sanskrit

The given name is of uncertain origin, possibly linked to Daniel; the Buddhist/Hindu sense comes directly from Sanskrit dana, meaning "gift" or "giving."

Danbury

Old English

From Old English, "the stronghold of the people called after Dene."

Danby

Old English

From Old English Dene ("Dane") plus Old Norse býr ("farmstead").

dance

Vulgar Latin

From Anglo-Norman dauncer, ultimately from an uncertain Vulgar Latin root; it replaced the earlier Old English word for dancing, sealtian.

dancer

Middle English

From Middle English dauncere, built from dance plus the "person who does it" ending -er.

dancing

French

From dance + -ing. The sense "dance club" is from French dancing, a pseudo-anglicism derived from English dance + -ing.

dandelion

Old French

From Old French dent de lion ("lion's tooth"), a reference to the plant's sharply toothed leaves — the same image survives in German Löwenzahn and Italian dente di leone.

dander

Origin

A shortened form of "dandruff."

dandle

Origin

Compare Scots dandill (“to dander; go about idly; move uncertainly; trifle”), English dialectal dander (“to wander about; talk incoherently; rave”), Middle Dutch dantinnen (“to trifle”) (from French dandiner (“to swing; waddle”)), German dändeln, tändeln (“to trifle, dandle”), Middle Dutch and Provincial German danten (“to do foolish things; trifle”), German Tand (“trifle, prattle”).

Dandridge

Origin

English habitational surname, from an unexplained first element + Old English hryċġ (“ridge”).

dandruff

Old Norse · 1500

First recorded in the 1500s; the second half of the word comes from an old Northern English word for a scab, related to Old Norse hrufa.

dandy

Origin

Borrowed from Scots dandy, meaning a fop or someone unusually well-dressed; the exact origin is uncertain, possibly linked to the name Andrew.

Dane

Old English

From Old Norse danir or Old English Dene, both from a shared Proto-Germanic root.

Danes

Dutch

Various origins: * Patronymic or genitive form of Dane, a variant of Dean. * Borrowed from Dutch Danes, a short form of the personal name Daniel. * Borrowed from Czech and Slovak Daneš.

dang

Origin · 1797

First recorded around 1797 as a "minced oath" — a softened stand-in for "damn" meant to avoid outright swearing.

danger

Latin

From Old French dangier, originally meaning "power" or "dominion" before it came to mean "peril" — ultimately from Latin dominus ("lord, master").

dangerous

Old French

From Old French dangereus ("threatening, difficult"), from dangier — the same root as "danger."

dangerously

Origin

From dangerous plus the adverb ending -ly.

dangersome

Origin

From danger + -some.

dangle

Germanic

Likely of North Germanic origin, related to Danish dingle and Swedish dangla, both meaning "to swing about."

Dani

Sanskrit

* As an Italian, Slovak (Dáni), Romanian, and German surname, from diminutives of the given name Daniel. * As an Albanian surname, from Dan, a short form of the Islamic name Ramadan. * As an Indian surname, borrowed from Gujarati દાણી (dāṇī), from Sanskrit दानिन् (dānin, “giving, generous”).

Danica

Origin

From Slavic female given name, from the Slavic name for the Morning Star (an aspect of the planet Venus).

Daniel

Hebrew

From Hebrew דָּנִיֵּאל (Daniyyel), literally "God is my judge," the name of the biblical prophet in the Book of Daniel.

Daniela

Origin

Feminine form of Daniel.

Daniele

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Daniele.

Danielle

French

Borrowed from French Danielle, the feminine form of Daniel.

danika

Origin

A spelling variant of Danica, a female given name of Slavic origin.

Danish

Old English

From Old English Denisċ ("Danish"), from Proto-Germanic *daniskaz — literally "of the Danes."

dank

Middle English

From Middle English danke ("wet, damp"), likely from a North Germanic source related to Swedish dank ("marshy spot"). The internet slang sense grew out of an older drug-culture use meaning "strong, high-quality," which later broadened into general praise.

danke

German

German danke 'thanks', from danken 'to thank', related to English thank.

Danko

Origin

Borrowed from Slovak Danko.

danmark

Origin

Ultimately from Danish Danmark.

danna

Origin

As a surname from French D'Anna (“of Anna”). The given name is more probably a feminine form coined from Dan or Daniel.

Danny

Hebrew

From Dan (“diminutive of Daniel and Danielle”) + -y, from Hebrew דן.

Danson

Origin

From Dan plus the suffix -son.

Dante

Italian

Borrowed from Italian, a shortened form of Durante ("enduring").

Danube

Latin

From Latin Dānubius, tracing back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "river" — the same root that gives Sanskrit and Old Russian words for flowing water.

Danvers

Old French

From Old French d'Anvers ("from Antwerp").

Danville

Origin

Most likely from various people named Dan, plus -ville.

Danzig

German

From German Danzig, a doublet of Gdańsk.

Danziger

German

Borrowed from German Danziger, formed from the city name Danzig plus the suffix meaning "person from."

dao

Chinese

From Chinese 刀 (dāo), literally "single-edged blade."

dap

Origin

Onomatopoeic, from the sound made when a person runs while wearing daps.

Daph

Origin

Clipping of Daphne.

Daphne

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek δάφνη (dáphnē, "laurel, bay tree"), tied to the myth of the nymph Daphne.

dapper

Middle English

From Middle English daper ("pretty, neat"), from Middle Dutch dapper ("stalwart, nimble") — the sense shifted over time from "sturdy" to "smartly dressed."

dapple

Origin

Uncertain. The adjective is first attested circa 1550 though the first element is already attested in dapple-grey as early as 1386, in Middle English, and later as dappled circa 1400; the OED suggests either: * a back-formation from dapple-grey, itself a variant of apple-grey, compare possible cognates all said of horses: Old Norse apalgrár (whence Norwegian abildgrå and Swedish apel-grå), German apfelgrau. Compare also French pommelé (“dappled”), from pomme (“an apple”); or, * a relation with Icelandic depill (“a dot, spot”). The noun and verb are both later attested likely as back-formations.

dar

Arabic

Ultimately from Arabic دار (dār).