Etymologically
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dozen

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈdʌz.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English doseyn, dozeine, borrowed from Old French dozeine (“a dozen”) (modern French douzaine),[2][3][4] from doze (“twelve”) and the collective suffix -aine,[2][3] from Latin duodecim (“twelve”),[3][2] from duo (“two”) and decem (“ten”).[2][3] The French suffix made collectives meaning exactly, not about, twelve.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A group of twelve: before 1300 in the OED, in Kyng Alisaunder in Barnhart.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The baker's dozen and other qualified dozens are from before 1529.[5] A dozen was also a kind of coarse woollen cloth (1523),[5] and in Scotland the town council of a burgh (1416), probably because it first had twelve members.[5] An indefinite large number, as in dozens of times, is a later use.[6][7] The dozens, a game of ritual verbal insults among Black Americans, is from 1928.[5]

Timeline

  • a1300 – a group of twelve.[5]
  • 1416 – a burgh council (Scots).[5]
  • 1523 – a woollen cloth.[5]
  • a1529 – baker's dozen.[5]
  • 1928 – the dozens.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A group or set of twelve.
  2. (dozens) A large but indefinite number.

Adjective

  1. Twelve: a dozen eggs.

Word family

  • dozenth
  • half-dozen
  • baker's dozen
  • daily dozen
  • long dozen

Usage notes

Scots and northern dozen, to stun or make numb (and dozened, numb with cold), is a different word.[5][8][9]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ 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)