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Etymology and origin of the English word dab

English has three main nouns spelled dab: a light touch (with the verb), a small flatfish, and an expert.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

dab1 touch lightly; a light touch, small amount

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
c. 1300 Kyng Alisaunder
From
Middle English dabben

Etymology

The verb and noun meaning to strike or touch lightly are inherited from Middle English dabben and dabbe, both first found about 1300,[5][6][7] and are of uncertain origin,[7][8][5] probably imitative.[1][2][9][3][10] The OED notes that nothing similar exists in Old English, and that Middle Dutch dabben (“to pinch, knead, fumble”) and German tappen (“to grope, fumble”) are not clearly connected; it prefers an independent echoic origin, imitating the movement more than the sound.[5] Klein and Partridge, however, derive it from the Middle Dutch verb,[11][12] and the MED and Etymonline compare Old Norse dabba (“to tap, slap”).[6][8] Barnhart suggests a link with tappen, the source of tap.[7] Etymonline thinks the gentle modern sense was influenced by daub,[8] and Merriam-Webster takes the senses "to daub" and "a small amount" as alterations of that word.[1] dabble and dib are related.[2][12][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A heavy blow with a weapon: before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, for the noun,[5][7][6] and before 1307, in the Political Songs, for the verb, to strike sharply.[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Hoad notes that the word is rare before the 16th century, when it may have been formed again.[3] The milder sense, to strike lightly or peck, appears in 1532, in Thomas More, and pressing with something soft or moist in 1562;[7][5] Etymonline dates the gentler sense to the mid-16th century.[8] The noun followed: a gentle tap with something soft (1755, in Johnson),[5][8] a flattish mass of something soft (1749),[5][8] and, slightingly, a small or trifling amount (1729).[5] In 20th-century British slang dabs were fingerprints (1926),[5] and the police dabbed a suspect by taking them (1941).[13] Since 2015 drug slang has used dab for smoking heated cannabis oil.[13] Collins also records the noun for a celebratory gesture with one arm bent across the chest and the other stretched out parallel to it.[9] In dialect the verb meant to set something down hastily, and to let dab in Aberdeenshire was to give a hint.[14]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – noun, a sharp blow, also a peck.[5][6]
  • before 1307 – verb, to strike sharply.[5][7]
  • 1532 – to strike lightly; to peck.[5][7]
  • 1562 – to apply something soft or moist with light pressure.[5][7]
  • 1600 – adverb, with a dab, abruptly.[5]
  • 1729 – a small or trifling amount.[5]
  • 1749 – a small flattish mass of a soft substance.[5][8]
  • 1755 – a gentle tap with something soft.[5][8]
  • 1926 – plural, fingerprints (slang).[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To touch lightly and quickly, usually several times: He dabbed the cut with cotton wool.[9][1][2]
  2. To apply a substance with short, light strokes: She dabbed some cream on her nose.[9][1][2]
  3. (archaic) To strike sharply; to peck or jab.[1][5]

Noun

  1. A small amount of something soft or moist: a dab of glue.[9][1][5]
  2. A light, quick touch or pat.[9][1][5]
  3. (chiefly British, slang, usually plural) A fingerprint.[9][5]
  4. A celebratory gesture in which one arm is bent across the upper chest and the other stretched out parallel to it.[9]
  5. (archaic) A sharp blow or thrust.[1][5]

Word family

  • dabber
  • smack-dab

dab2 flatfish

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1400s
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman dabbe

Etymology

The flatfish is borrowed from Anglo-Norman dabbe,[1][9] which the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records from 1311.[15] Its further origin is unknown.[5][2][3][9] The OED and Klein connect it with the noun meaning a flattish mass of something soft.[5][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A flatfish: in 15th-century records: the MED cites dabbes in the Liber Albus of London (1419) and 3 dabys paid for in 1460.[6][1][2] The OED's first record is from Harrison's Description of England (1577).[5]

Semantic evolution

The name is used especially of the common European Limanda of British sandy coasts, a fish like the flounder,[5][2][1] and in compounds such as sand dab.[1] It was also an old general word for any flatfish,[16][14] and London street sellers of fried fish called plaice and sole dabs.[14]

Timeline

  • 1311 – Anglo-Norman dabbe, a small flatfish.[15]
  • 1419 – dabbes, in the Liber Albus of London.[6]
  • 1577 – a small flatfish of the British coast.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small flatfish related to the flounder, especially one of the genus Limanda of European coasts; also its flesh as food.[1][2][5]

dab3 expert

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
1691 Athenian Mercury

Etymology

The word for an expert is of unknown origin.[5][2][3] The OED calls it perhaps a special use of the verb meaning to strike lightly, though the metaphor is unclear,[5] and Collins and Klein also derive it from that verb.[9][11] Merriam-Webster and Weekley suggest an alteration of adept, through a wrong division of the word after the article;[1][17] the OED and Green's Dictionary of Slang consider this and a link with dapper unproven or unlikely.[5][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

An expert, a person skilled at something: 1691, in the Athenian Mercury.[5][1] Etymonline gives the 1690s, and reports the OED's view that it was school slang.[8]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755) called it a word of "low language" for an artist or expert, not used in writing.[18] Bartlett (1848) described it as a vulgar colloquialism in England and America.[19] The compound dab hand is recorded from 1828,[20][8] and the OED thinks that in later use dab is mostly short for it.[5] The derivative dabster meant an expert from about 1700.[17][8] In 19th-century slang dabs was also an adjective, skilled.[13]

Timeline

Meanings

Noun

  1. (chiefly British, informal) A person who is skilled at something; an expert, usually in a dab hand: She is a dab hand at pastry.[1][2][5]

Word family

  • dabster
  • dab hand
  • dap
  • tap
  • dabble
  • dib
  • daub

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  13. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  16. ^ Smyth, W. H. (1867), The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie and Son
  17. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  19. ^ Bartlett, John Russell (1848), Dictionary of Americanisms, New York: Bartlett and Welford
  20. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Dab.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/dab. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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