dot

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɒt/, /dɑt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English dott (“speck, head of a boil”),^[2][3][4] a word recorded only once in Old English,^[5][3] perhaps related to Dutch dot, a knot, tuft, Norwegian dott, a lump, wisp, and Old High German tutta, nipple, and to Old English dyttan, to stop up.^[2][3][4] Its reappearance in the 16th century may be due to Dutch dot,^[4][6] and Etymonline suggests that the modern word may instead imitate the mark of a touch with the pen.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The head of a boil: about 1000, the only Old English example.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The word is not found in Middle English and reappears in 1530 meaning a small lump or clot.^[2][7][5] A minute spot is from 1674,^[2][7] and a small roundish mark made with a pen from 1748;^[7] it was not common until the 18th century.^[3] The verb, to mark with dots, is from 1740,^[3] to scatter with small objects by 1818,^[3] and to dot the letter i by 1833.^[3] To a dot, exactly, is from 1728,^[7] the year dot, very long ago, from 1895,^[7] and on the dot, from the dot marking the hour on a clock face, from 1909.^[7][5] Dotted line is by the 1690s.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – the head of a boil.^[7]
• 1530 – a small lump.^[7]
• 1674 – a minute spot.^[7]
• 1740 – to mark with dots (verb).^[3]
• 1748 – a mark made with a pen.^[7]
• 1895 – the year dot.^[7]
• 1909 – on the dot.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small round mark or spot.
2. Such a mark used in writing, as above the letter i or as a decimal point.
3. A tiny amount.
4. The short signal in Morse code.
5. (music) A mark after a note that increases its length by half.

Verb

1. To mark with a dot or dots.
2. To scatter or cover with dots or small objects: a hillside dotted with houses.

Word family

• dotter
• dotlike
• microdot
• underdot
• dot-com

Related words

• dotted

Usage notes

Dot, a dowry, is a separate word, from French, from Latin dōs, dōtis (1855).^[8][4][9] In Scots and English dialect a dot was a small person or thing.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
10. ^ 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)