door

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɔː/, US /dɔːr/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dore, also dure,^[2][3] inherited from Old English dor (“large door, gate”), a neuter noun, merged with duru (“door, gate”), a feminine one,^[2][3][4][5] the first from a singular form and the second from a plural.^[2] Both are from Proto-Germanic *dur-,^[2][3] the source also of Old Saxon duru, Old Norse dyrr, Old High German turi and German Tür and Tor (“gate”).^[2][6][7] The root is Proto-Indo-European *dhwer- (“door, doorway”),^[2][8] which also gave Latin forēs (“door”) and Greek θύρα (thúra).^[6][3][5] The oldest forms in Indo-European are often dual or plural, which has led to speculation that early houses had doors with two halves.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English duru is first recorded about 725, in Beowulf, and dor about 1000.^[3] The figurative sense “a means of entrance or opportunity” was already in Old English, from about 825.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Middle English had both dure and dor;^[2] dore predominated by the 16th century but was later replaced by the spelling door,^[2] recorded from 1504.^[9] The doorway or opening itself is a door from 1382.^[9] Door to door, “from house to house”, is from about 1300, and as an adjective of selling by 1902.^[2] Counting houses by doors, as in two doors down, is from 1669.^[9] The verb, to strike a passing cyclist by opening a car door, and to work as a doorman, are recent American uses.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 725 – duru, in Beowulf.^[3]
• c. 825 – a means of entrance, figurative.^[9]
• c. 1000 – dor.^[3][9]
• c. 1300 – door to door.^[2]
• 1382 – a doorway.^[9]
• 1504 – the spelling door.^[9]
• 1669 – counting houses by doors.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A movable barrier, usually on hinges, that closes an entrance to a building, room or vehicle.
2. A doorway.
3. A house or room that a door leads into: two doors down.
4. A means of access or opportunity.

Verb

1. To strike a passing cyclist by suddenly opening a car door.
2. To work as a doorman at.

Word family

• doorless

Related words

• foreign
• forum
• forest
• thyroid
• doorway

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