Etymologically
Log in

daughter

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 14:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdɔː.tə/, US /ˈdɑː.t̬ɚ/, /ˈdɔː-/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English doughter, earlier dohter,[2][3] inherited from Old English dohtor,[4][2][3] from Proto-Germanic *duhtēr,[4][5] the source also of Old Saxon dohtar, Old Norse dóttir, Dutch dochter, German Tochter and Gothic daúhtar.[4][6][7] It is from Proto-Indo-European *dhugheter (“daughter”),[4][3] the source also of Sanskrit duhitár-, Armenian dustr, Lithuanian duktė and Greek θυγάτηρ (thugátēr).[4][5][6] Hoad calls the PIE word of unknown origin.[5] It was lost in Celtic and Latin, where filia “daughter” is the feminine of filius “son”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English dohtor: about 725, in Beowulf.[2] The OED's first quotation for the sense “female child” is from about 1000.[8]

Semantic evolution

In late Old English daughter was also used of a woman seen in an analogous relationship, to her country, church or culture.[4] From about 1200 it was used of anything regarded as feminine with respect to its source.[4] The Middle English plural was often dohtren or deghtren, with an -en ending.[8] The modern spelling evolved in southern England in the 16th century,[4] and the form daughter is first recorded in 1531.[8] Daughter-in-law is from the late 14th century; earlier were sonnes wif and, earlier still, Old English snoru.[4] The adjective, as in a daughter cell, is from 1614 in Merriam-Webster.[9] In physics, the product of the radioactive decay of an element is its daughter.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – dohtor, in Beowulf.[2]
  • late Old English – a woman as a daughter of her church or country.[4]
  • c. 1200 – anything feminine with respect to its source.[4]
  • late 14th century – daughter-in-law.[4]
  • 1531 – the spelling daughter.[8]
  • 1614 – adjective.[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A female child in relation to her parents.
  2. A female descendant.
  3. A woman regarded as the product of a place, culture or group: a daughter of the Church.
  4. (physics) The product of the radioactive decay of an element.

Adjective

  1. Having the relation of a daughter: a daughter cell.

Word family

  • daughterly
  • daughterless
  • daughterlike
  • daughter-in-law
  • goddaughter
  • granddaughter
  • great-granddaughter
  • stepdaughter

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin