"D" Word Origins

doubtful

Middle English

From Middle English doutfull — built from doubt plus -ful, "full of."

doubtfully

Origin

From Middle English dowtfully, doutefulli, equivalent to doubtful + -ly.

doubtfulness

Origin

From Middle English doutefulnesse, dowtefulnesse, equivalent to doubtful + -ness.

doubtless

Middle English

From Middle English douteles — doubt plus -less, "without."

doubtlessly

Origin

From Middle English doutelesly, dowtelesly, equivalent to doubtless + -ly.

douceur

Origin

Borrowed from French douceur (“sweetness”), from Old French dolçor, dulcur, etc., from Latin dulcōr + -em, from dulcis (“sweet”). Naturalized in Middle English as douceoure, dousour but treated as a French loanword from the 17th century onward. Doublet of dulcour.

douche

French

From French douche ("shower"), from Italian doccia.

douchebag

Origin · 1900

From douche plus bag; the insult sense developed in the mid-20th century.

doucheburger

Origin

Shitgibbon compound of douche + burger.

douchecanoe

Origin

Shitgibbon compound of douche + canoe.

douchewad

Origin

From douche + -wad.

douchewagon

Origin

Shitgibbon compound of douche + wagon.

Doug

Origin

A clipping of Douglas.

Dougal

Old Irish

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Dùghall, from Old Irish dubgall ("Dane, black-haired foreigner"), from dubh ("black") + gall ("stranger").

dough

Old English

From Old English dāg, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "to knead, form, or mold."

doughboy

Origin

From dough plus boy; the soldier sense is recorded from the Mexican–American War, though its exact origin is unclear.

doughnut

Origin · 1809

From dough plus nut — originally small, nut-sized fried dough balls; the now-familiar ring shape became standard in the 20th century. First recorded in Washington Irving's writing in 1809.

doughty

Origin

The adjective is derived from Middle English doughty (“brave, bold, valiant”), from Old English dohtiġ, dyhtiġ (“competent, good, strong, valiant”), from Proto-West Germanic *duhtīg. The English word may be analysed as dought + -y, and is cognate with Scots douchty, douchtie (“bold, valiant”), Dutch duchtig (“severe, strict”), German tüchtig (“capable, competent, efficient; big; hard”), Danish dygtig (“virtuous, proficient”), Swedish duktig (“efficient; good; capable, clever, smart”), Icelandic dygðugur (“virtuous, stable”). The noun is derived from the adjective.

Dougie

Origin · 2010

The dance name comes from Doug plus the informal -ie ending, popularized in a 2010 hip-hop song.

Douglas

Scottish Gaelic

From a Scottish place name, from Scottish Gaelic dubh ("black") + glais ("stream").

dour

Latin

From Scots dour, likely from Latin dūrus ("hard, stern").

douse

Germanic

Probably from a North Germanic root related to Swedish dunsa, "to fall clumsily" or "plunge down."

douth

Origin

From Middle English douthe, douth, duweðe (“body of retainers, people, might, dignity, worth”), from Old English duguþ (“manhood, host, multitude, troops”), from Proto-West Germanic *dugunþu, *dugunþi, from Proto-Germanic *dugunþō (“power, competency, notefulness, virtue”), from *duganą (“to be useful”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewgʰ- (“to be ready, be sufficient”). Cognate with North Frisian døgd, døged (“ability, good deed”), Dutch deugd (“virtue”), German Tugend (“virtue”), Swedish dygd (“virtue”), Danish dyd (“virtue”), Icelandic dygð, dyggð (“virtue”). Related to dow, doughty.

Dov

Hebrew

From Hebrew דוב (dov, "bear").

Dove

Origin

A modern formation of the strong conjugation, by analogy with drive → drove and weave → wove.

dovecote

Origin

From dove + cote.

Dover

Latin

From Old English Dofras, from Latin Dubris, from Brythonic Dubras ("the waters"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- ("deep").

dovish

English

From dove, long a symbol of peace, extended to policymakers who favour restraint, and from there to central bankers who favour low rates. Formed with the adjective suffix -ish.

dow

Middle English

From Middle English douen, from Old English dugan, from Proto-West Germanic *dugan, from Proto-Germanic *duganą.

dowager

Latin

From Middle French douagere, from douage ("dower"), ultimately from Latin dōs ("dowry").

dowd

Origin

A back-formation from the adjective "dowdy."

dowdy

Origin · 1581

First recorded around 1581; probably related to "dow," a Scots word meaning to fade or wither.

dower

Origin

From Middle English dower, dowere, from Old French doeire, from Medieval Latin dōtārium, from Latin dōs. Doublet of dowry.

down

Old English

From Old English dūne, a shortened form of ofdūne, literally "off the hill" — combining of ("off") with dūn ("hill").

downbeat

Origin

From down + beat.

downcast

Origin

The adjective is derived from Middle English doun-casten, *adoun-casten (“(adjective) cast down, dejected; (verb) to break down (something); to overcome (someone); to overturn (something)”), from down (“in a downward direction; (figurative) to destruction”), adoun (“downward”) + casten (“to throw (something), fling, hurl; to overcome (someone), defeat, overpower; [etc.]”) (from Old Norse kasta (“to cast, throw”), from Proto-Germanic *kastōną (“to throw”), from *kas- (“to throw, toss; to bring up”); further etymology uncertain), modelled similarly to other constructions in Middle English such as adoun-throwen (“to throw down”) and adoun-werpen (“to throw down”)). The English word is analysable as down- (prefix meaning ‘lower direction or position’) + cast (“that has been thrown”, adjective). The noun is derived from the adjective.

downclock

Origin

From down- + clock.

downcomer

Origin

From down + comer.

downer

Origin

Perhaps related to tanner (“sixpence”).

Downey

Irish

A reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Dúnadhaigh, or a Scottish habitational surname from the barony of Downie.

downfall

Origin · 1200

From down- plus fall, originally written as two words as early as the 13th century.

downgrade

Origin

From down- + grade.

downhearted

Origin

From down + hearted.

downhill

Origin

From down- + hill.

downland

Origin

From Old English dūnland, equivalent to down + land.

downlift

Origin

From down- + lift.

download

Origin · 1962

From down- plus load; the verb is first recorded around 1962, with the noun form following in the 1970s.

downplay

Origin

Synthetic form of the phrase play down. By surface analysis, down- + play.