doe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /doʊ/; /dəʊ/ (UK)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English do, inherited from Old English dā,^[2][3][4] of unknown origin.^[3][5][6] Etymonline and Klein suggest a Celtic loan, comparing Cornish da (“fallow deer”), Old Irish dam (“ox”) and Welsh dafad (“sheep”);^[7][8] Merriam-Webster compares Alemannic German tē (“doe”) and, doubtfully, Sanskrit धयति (dhayati, “he sucks”).^[9] Some have taken dā as a contraction of a word borrowed from Latin dāma (“fallow deer”), like Old High German tāmo and the first part of German Damhirsch, but the OED says this has serious difficulties.^[4][10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English dā, a female deer, is found about 1000 in Ælfric's Glossary;^[3] in early Middle English do (before 1200) it was the fallow deer.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart traces a narrowing and widening: the fallow deer before 1200, then the female of the fallow deer by about 1300, and any deer by about 1380.^[3] From 1607 it is used of a female rabbit or hare,^[3][5][12] and later of other animals whose male is a buck, such as goats, rats and kangaroos.^[9][13] The native word for a female deer was hind.^[7] In slang it has meant a girl or young woman since about 1572.^[14] doe-eyed is from 1845.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English dā.^[3]
• before 1200 – the fallow deer.^[3]
• c. 1300 – the female of the fallow deer.^[3]
• 1425–26 – doeskin.^[3]
• 1607 – a female rabbit or hare.^[3][12]
• 1845 – doe-eyed.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An adult female deer, especially a fallow deer.
2. The female of various other animals whose male is called a buck, such as the rabbit, hare, goat or kangaroo.

Word family

• doeskin
• doe-eyed

Usage notes

In law, John Doe was the plaintiff in a fictitious action (Doe versus Roe) used to test a point of law, and in the US John Doe or Jane Doe is an unidentified person.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins