Etymologically
Log in

don

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 22:19. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

English has two common words spelled don: a Spanish title of respect, from Latin dominus “master”, and a verb “to put on”, a contraction of do on.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /dɒn/, US /dɑːn/[4]

don1 title, college fellow

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish don,[2][5] or Portuguese dom,[6] from Latin dominus (“lord, master, owner”),[2][6][5] from domus “house”, from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“house, household”).[6] The Mafia sense is from Italian don, a title of respect for a man, a shortening of earlier donno, from Late Latin domnus.[2][6] It is related to dominate, dame and donna.[2][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

1523, as a title prefixed to a Spanish man's Christian name, formerly only for men of high rank.[2][8][5]

Semantic evolution

A Spanish gentleman, or any Spaniard, is from 1610, in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist,[2][8] and a distinguished or important man from before 1634.[2][8] From that general sense came, about 1660, the English university sense of a head, fellow or tutor of a college, first in students' slang.[6][2][8] In dialect, in Scotland and England, a don was also an adept, a clever fellow, and as an adjective “grand, superior”.[9] The sense of a powerful member of the Mafia is from 1952,[8][6] and it was in general use in American English before 1963.[2]

Timeline

  • 1523 – a Spanish title.[2][8]
  • 1610 – a Spanish gentleman.[2][8]
  • a. 1634 – a distinguished man.[2][8]
  • 1660 – a college fellow or tutor.[2][8]
  • 1952 – a Mafia leader.[8][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A Spanish title of courtesy, used before a man's name.
  2. A head, tutor or fellow of a college, especially at Oxford or Cambridge.
  3. A university professor.
  4. The leader of an organized-crime family.
  5. (archaic) A person of importance.

Word family

  • donnish

don2 put on

Etymology

It is a Middle English contraction of do and on, do being used in the sense “to put”.[3][2][5] Compare doff, from do off.[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To put on” clothing: probably before 1350 in Barnhart,[2] the mid-14th century in Etymonline,[6] 1567 in the OED's quotations.[8]

Semantic evolution

According to the OED, after 1650 it lived on in popular use only in northern dialect, but in the 19th century it became very frequent as a literary archaism.[6] The extended sense “to dress oneself” is from 1801, chiefly northern dialect,[8] and “to take on, assume”, as an air or a role, is in Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage.[1][10] In dialect it was used across Scotland, Ireland and England for putting on any article of clothing.[9]

Timeline

  • a. 1350 – to put on.[2]
  • after 1650 – mainly northern dialect.[6]
  • 1801 – to dress oneself.[8]
  • 19th century – a literary archaism.[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To put on (an article of clothing).
  2. To take on; to assume: donned an air of innocence.
  • donzel
  • doff
  • dominate
  • dame
  • donna
  • dominion

Usage notes

A third, obsolete don meant a gift or donation, from French don, 1524;[8][11] it survived in Scots.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ 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)
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press