"D" Word Origins

dashboard

Origin

Originally the board at the front of a horse-drawn carriage that stopped mud "dashed" up by the horse's hooves from splattering the driver.

dasheen

Origin

From a language of the West Indies. Probably from Antillean Creole dachine or another French creole, from French (chou) de Chine (literally “(cabbage) of China”), as the species originated in China.

dashi

Origin

From Japanese 出汁 (dashi, “essence, dashi soup”) (hiragana だし), from noun form of 出す (dasu, “to draw, to extract”).

dashing

Origin

From dash plus -ing, originally describing someone who moved with a bold, spirited flourish.

dashu

Origin

From Mandarin 大樹 (Dàshù).

Dashwood

French

A variant of Ashwood, with a fused French preposition de ("of").

dass

Origin

Related to "dare" and its archaic forms "darest" and "dast."

dastardly

Origin

From dastard ("a cowardly, sneaky person") plus the adjective suffix -ly.

dat

Origin

Pronuctiation spelling of that, representing dialects with th-stopping. Compare Dutch dat, Low German dat, and German das.

Data

Latin

Borrowed from Latin "data," the plural of "datum," meaning "(a thing) given." It entered English as a scientific and statistical term before becoming everyday vocabulary in the computer age.

database

Origin

A straightforward compound of data and base, coined in computing to describe a structured "base" of data.

date

Latin

The calendar sense comes from Latin data, "given," from the Roman custom of writing a letter's place and time as "given at..." The fruit sense is unrelated, coming via Old French from Greek daktulos ("finger"), because a date resembles a finger.

datebook

Origin

From date + book.

dateline

Origin

A straightforward compound of "date" and "line" — literally the line that gives the date (and place).

Dato

Italian

Borrowed from Italian and Spanish Dato. This surname is mostly found in the Philippines.

daub

Origin

From Middle English daub (noun), from Middle English dauben (“to plaster or whitewash; cover with clay; bespatter”, verb), from Old Northern French dauber (“to whitewash; plaster”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Latin dealbāre (“to whiten thoroughly”), which would make it a doublet of dealbate.

daughter

Old English

From Old English dohtor, an ancient word going all the way back to Proto-Indo-European — related to similar words in German (Tochter), Dutch, and many other Indo-European languages.

daunting

Latin

Built from the verb "daunt" (to intimidate or discourage), which came into English via Old French from Latin domare, "to tame."

dauntless

Origin

From "daunt" (to intimidate) plus the negating suffix "-less" — literally "unable to be daunted."

dauphin

French

From French dauphin, literally "dolphin" — the title came from the coat of arms of the Dauphiné region, which featured a dolphin. It's actually a doublet of the English word "dolphin."

dauphine

Origin

Borrowed from French dauphine, equivalent to dauphin + -ine.

Dave

Old English

As a name, a shortened, informal form of David. The archaic verb sense comes from Middle English "deven," related to Old English "dēafian" ("to grow deaf") and Old Norse "deyfa" ("to numb, soothe"), the same root that gives us "deafen."

Davenport

Origin · 1800

From the English surname Davenport, originally referring to someone from a place of that name in Cheshire (from the River Dane plus "port"). The furniture sense likely traces to a 19th-century manufacturer or purchaser named Davenport.

David

Latin

From Hebrew dawid, literally "beloved," via Greek and Latin into Old English and Middle English.

Davina

Origin

From David + -ina.

Davison

Origin

From David + -son.

Davos

Origin · 1971

Named after Davos, a mountain resort town in the canton of Grisons, Switzerland, which has hosted the World Economic Forum since 1971.

Davy

Origin · 1815

The lamp sense is named after its inventor, the chemist Humphry Davy, who developed it in 1815. As a nickname for David, "Davy" is simply a diminutive form of the name.

dawdle

Old English

Likely related to old English dialect words like "daddle" or "doddle," meaning to walk slowly or aimlessly — probably imitative in origin.

dawdler

Origin

From dawdle + -er.

Dawes

Origin

From Dawe (“diminutive of David”) + -s (“patronymic suffix”).

Dawkins

Origin

From Dawkin + -s (“patronymic suffix”).

dawn

Middle English

From Middle English dawnen, related to the older word daw, meaning to grow light.

dawning

Middle English

From Middle English dawnynge, an alteration of dawing, under the influence of North Germanic cognates (compare Swedish, Danish dagning). See daw (“to dawn”).

Dax

French

Borrowed from French Dax.

day

Old English

From Old English dæg, an ancient Germanic word ultimately traced back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to burn" — likely a reference to the heat and light of the sun.

Daya

Sanskrit

Borrowed from Sanskrit दया (dayā, “pity, mercy, compassion”).

daybed

Origin

From day + bed.

daybook

Origin

From day + book. First attested in 1571. Cognate with Dutch dagboek (“diary, journal, logbook”), German Tagebuch (“diary, journal, daybook”), Danish dagbog (“diary”), Swedish dagbok (“diary, logbook, journal, daybook”).

daybreak

Origin

A plain compound of "day" and "break" — the moment daylight "breaks" through the darkness.

daycare

Origin

From "day" plus "care" — care provided during the daytime while parents are at work.

daydream

Origin

A simple compound of "day" and "dream" — dreaming while awake, during the day.

daydreamer

Origin

From daydream + -er.

daylight

Middle English

A compound of "day" and "light," dating back to Middle English, with close cognates in Dutch, German, and Frisian.

daypack

Origin

From day + pack.

days

Old English

From Old English "dagas," the plural of "dæg" ("day"), going back to Proto-Germanic "*dagaz."

dayspring

Origin

From Middle English dai spring, equivalent to day + spring.

daystar

Origin

From Middle English daysterre, from Old English dæġsteorra, equivalent to day + star. Cognate with Scots daystern (“morningstar; daystar”).