doe
/doʊ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.84 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A female deer; also used of similar animals such as antelope (less commonly a goat, as nanny is also used).
Countable; Uncountable
adv
Example Sentences
- "A doe from round a spruce stood looking at them Across the wall, as near the wall as they. She saw them in their field, they her in hers."
- "The city recently carried out a deer census, determining there are 313 stags (males), 798 does (females) and 214 fawns (babies) in Nara Park."
- "As salutations, reverences, or conges, by which some doe often purchase the honour, (but wrongfully) to be humble, lowly, and courteous[…]."
- "[…] a voyage to plant yͤ first colonie in yͤ Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in yͤ presence of God […]"
- "The DOE and EPA have tried to keep everyone happy with the final rules."
- "“As a result, OCR found that the district’s pattern of inconsistent responses to reports it received of sexual harassment – infrequently responding under Title IX or not responding at all – rose to the level that the district’s response to some families’ sexual harassment reports was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights,” a news release from DOE reads."
Etymology
From Middle English do (“(female) fallow deer”), from Old English dā, from Proto-West Germanic *daihā (“female deer, mother deer”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)- (“to suck (milk), to suckle”). Cognate with Middle Scots da, dae (“female fallow deer”), Danish då (“fallow deer”), Sanskrit धेनु (dhenú, “cow, milk-cow”), Old English dēon (“to suckle”), Old English delu (“teat”). Related also to female, filial, fetus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dʰeh₁(y)-, do, dā, *daihā, -, d'
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /doʊ/
- British English: /dəʊ/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Obsolete
- American usage