dote
/doʊt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.23 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Little Bill's parents just keep doting on him."
- "'[…] So altered — so faded — worn down by acute suffering of every kind! hardly could I believe the melancholy and sickly figure before me, to be the remains of the lovely, blooming, healthful girl, on whom I had once doated […]'"
- "Jules doted on Chris, spending hours while Chris was at school assembling vast cities out of microscopic Lego pieces to surprise him when he returned."
- "He survived the use of his reason, grew infatuated, and doted long before he died."
- "Time has made you dote, and vainly tell / Of arms imagined in your lonely cell."
- "But to be sure baby Boardman was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib."
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English doten, from Middle Low German doten (“to be foolish”) or Middle Dutch doten (“to be silly”). Doublet of doit (Scottish English). The noun in the sense of "imbecile" is derived from Middle English dote (“simpleton”), itself from doten (see above). The noun in the sense of "darling" and "decay" is derived from the modern verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /doʊt/
- British English: /dəʊt/