don

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɒn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɑn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophones: Don; dawn (cot–caught merger)
• Rhymes: -ɒn

From Latin dominus (“lord, head of household”), akin to Italian don, Sicilian don, Spanish don; from domus (“house”). Doublet of dom, domine, dominie, and dominus.

don (plural dons)

2. A university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge.
   • 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter I, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 12:

     No one feeds at the high table except the dons and the gentlemen-commoners, who are undergraduates in velvet caps and silk gowns[.]

   • 1876, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVI, in Daniel Deronda, volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book II (Meeting Streams), page 321:

     The truth is, unless a man can get the prestige and income of a Don and write donnish books, it’s hardly worth while for him to make a Greek and Latin machine of himself and be able to spin you out pages of the Greek dramatists at any verse you’ll give him as a cue.

3. An employee of a university residence who lives among the student residents.
4. A mafia boss.
5. A (usually Spanish or Italian) title of respect to a man, especially a lord or nobleman.

   Coordinate term: donna

   • 1845 September, Charles F. Ellerman, “Reminiscences of the Island of Cuba”, in Simmonds’s Colonial Magazine, volume VI, number 21, London, chapter VIII (Mrs. Smith seized with furor scribendi, writes a lengthy Epistle to her dear Cousin Mrs. Margery Stubbs), page 79:

     Wo often of an evening go and hear the band in the square opposite the captin-giniral’s palace—it is here were the dons and donnas and all the fashionables assemble, and I must say it’s amusing.

   • 1906 August, Harry H. Dunn, “Afoot in California”, in Western Field, volume 9, number 1, San Francisco, Calif., page 481, column 1:

     Time was when the walker amid California vales could stop at some cool cellar hid in these western hills and pour from great flagons a shimmering glass of cool red wine. Nowadays, the hand of the law has stepped in and spoiled all this, because the hordes of wanderers who have come west have made of these resting places questionable resorts—made of them places that the Spanish dons and donnas never dreamed of.

   • 2019, Caleb Stewart Rossiter, “Taking the Handles: Debating History and Morality”, in The Turkey and the Eagle: The Struggle for America’s Global Role, New York, N.Y.: Algora Publishing, →ISBN, page 283:

     A sustained media campaign against American domination would require the support of just a few dot-com dons and donnas or hedge fund phenoms who want to head straight for structural change and skip the reformist way stations supported by philanthropic business leaders like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Ben Cohen, Gary Hirshberg, and the later[ ]Paul Newman’s family.

6. (MLE) Any man, bloke, dude.

   Synonym: donny

   • 2017 October 31, Loski, “Olympic Chinging”‎^[1], from 1:55:

     I’m confused like who’s this don
     .22 bells and that who’s on

• donzel

From Middle English don (“to put on”), from Old English dōn on; equivalent to do +‎ on. Compare also doff, dup, dout.

don (third-person singular simple present dons, present participle donning, simple past and past participle donned)

1. (transitive) To put on clothing; to dress (oneself) in an article of personal attire.

   Synonyms: put on, clothe, dight, enrobe; see also Thesaurus:clothe

   Antonym: doff

   To don one's clothes.

   • 1886-88, Richard Francis Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night:

     Now when he had reached the King's capital wherein was Alaeddin, he alighted at one of the Kháns; and, when he had rested from the weariness of wayfare, he donned his dress and went down to wander about the streets, where he never passed a group without hearing them prate about the pavilion and its grandeur and vaunt the beauty of Alaeddin and his lovesomeness, his liberality and generosity, his fine manners and his good morals.

   • 2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 41:

     Having donned our PPE, we walk through the site to the prefab that controls access to the tunnel.

• put on
• wear

• ram-don (etymologically unrelated)

• NOD, ODN, nod

• do (Standard Albanian)

Gheg variant of Standard Albanian do (“(it) wants, needs, loves, likes”) and do (“you want, need, love, like”).

don (aorist dashta, participle dashtë) (Gheg forms)

1. you want, need

   A don me shkue? (Gheg) ― Do you want to go?

2. you like

   Rita e don Gjergjin. (Gheg) ― Rita likes/wants George.

3. you love
4. it wants, needs
5. it likes
6. it loves

• Standard Albanian conjugation:

• Audio:

  (file)

From Proto-Turkic *tōn. Cognate with Chuvash тум (tum).

don (definite accusative donu, plural donlar)

1. dress (worn by women)

   Synonym: paltar

2. gown (loose, flowing upper garment)
3. (figurative) raiment, attire, garb, habiliments
4. appearance, look (of a person)

• donatmaq (“adorn”) (dialectal)
  • donanmaq
• donlu

• donanma (“fleet; navy”)

From Proto-Turkic *doŋ (“frozen; frost”). See Bashkir туң (tuñ) for more cognates.

don (comparative daha don, superlative ən don)

1. frozen, congealed

don (definite accusative donu, plural donlar)

1. frost
2. ice-covered ground, black ice

• donmaq
  • dondurmaq
    • dondurma (“ice-cream”)

• “don” in Obastan.com.

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *dahun.

don (Balinese script ᬤᭀᬦ᭄)

1. leaf

• Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*dahun”, in the CLDF dataset from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–), →DOI

• IPA^(key): [dõ˦õ˨]

don

1. day

don (tone dòn)

1. (intransitive) to enter
2. (transitive) to put (something into something)
3. to put on, wear (of clothing)

• donda

don (tone dòn)

1. marks the predicate

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

From Proto-Brythonic *duβn, from Proto-Celtic *dubnos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰubʰnós.

don

1. deep

From Proto-Philippine *dahun, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *dahun.

dön

1. leaf (of a plant)

Borrowed from Spanish don, which is from Latin dominus (“lord”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈdon]
• Rhymes: -on

don m anim

1. (in Italian environment) (Originally a title of honour of the Pope, later used for all priests and later for aristocrats)

   don Giovanni ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (Spanish noble title) [19th c.]
3. (title of respect in front of Spanish given names)

   don José ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

4. don (maffia boss)
   • 2003, Miroslav Nožina, Mezinárodní organizovaný zločin v České republice, Themis, →ISBN, page 156:

     Roku 1876 mafiánský don Raffaele Palizollo reformoval dosavadní strategii nevměšování se mafie do veřejného života.

     In 1876 mafia don Raffaele Palizollo reformed the previous strategy of mafia not interfering into public affairs.

   • 2012, Hana Pernicová, transl., Kolumbova záhada‎^[2], Ostrava: Domino, translation of original by Steve Berry, →ISBN, page 412:

     Simon se zatvářil stejně jako drogový don před čtyřmi dny.

     Simon had the same expression as the drug mafia don four days ago.

• Rejzek, Jiří (2015) “don”, in Český etymologický slovník [Czech Etymological Dictionary] (in Czech), 3rd (revised and expanded) edition, Praha: LEDA, →ISBN, page 153
• "don" in Věra Petráčková, Jiří Kraus et al. Akademický slovník cizích slov. Academia, 1995, ISBN 80-200-0497-1, page 175.
• “don”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “don”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

• dno

From Proto-Philippine *dahun, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *dahun.

don

1. leaf (of a plant)

Inherited from Old French don, from Latin dōnum.

• IPA^(key): /dɔ̃/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Homophones: dom, dons, dont

don m (plural dons)

1. gift, talent, knack
2. gift (present)
3. donation

   Merci pour votre don !

   Thank you for your donation!

• don de sang
• don du ciel

• faire don

• “don”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /don/

Ultimately Inherited from Proto-Turkic *tōn. Cognate with Turkish don. Distantly related to Russian штаны (štany).

don (definite accusative donu, plural donnar)

1. pants, trousers

   Synonyms: pantalon, çaaşır

Ultimately Proto-Turkic *toŋ.

don (comparative taa don, superlative en don)

1. frozen, congealed

   don er ― frozen ground

2. frozen, immobile
3. frozen; flabbergasted, appealed, shocked

• Çebotar, Petri, Dron, Ion (2002) “don”, in Gagauzça-Rusça-Romınca Sözlük [Gagauz-Russian-Romanian Dictionary], Chișinău: Pontos Press, →ISBN, page 209
• Kopuşçu M. İ. , Todorova S. A. , Kiräkova T.İ., editors (2019), “don”, in Gagauzça-rusça sözlük: klaslar 5-12, Komrat: Gagauziya M.V. Maruneviç adına Bilim-Aaraştırma merkezi, →ISBN, page 56

From Late Latin domnus, from Latin dominus (“lord”). Cognates include Spanish don.

don m (plural dons, feminine dona, feminine plural donas)

1. sir, mister

• (courtesy treatment): señor

• dono

• “don”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

• do’n (superseded)
• ’on (colloquial)

• IPA^(key): /d̪ˠənˠ/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /ɡənˠ/

don

1. contraction of do an

   Thug mé don bhuachaill é. ― I gave it to the boy.

   Tá mé ag dul don Spáinn. ― I'm going to Spain.

This contraction is obligatory, i.e. *do an never appears uncontracted. It triggers lenition of a following consonant other than d, s, or t.

From Old Irish don (“misfortune, evil”).

• IPA^(key): /d̪ˠɔnˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /d̪ˠʌnˠ/

don

1. misfortune

Used only in a few stock maledictions such as Do dhon is do dhuais ort!, Don is duais ort!, Mo dhon is mo dhograinn ort! (all basically "bad luck to you!") and Don d’fhiafraí ort! (“Don’t be so inquisitive!”).

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “don”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “don”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “don”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025

• dom (archaic)

From a shortening of an earlier donno, from dom'no (used by Dante), from Latin domnus < dominus. Compare Sicilian don.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɔn
• Hyphenation: dòn

don m (invariable)

1. Father (a title given to priests)
2. a title of respect to a man

• → French: dom

• IPA^(key): /ˈdan/
• Hyphenation: don

Derived from English don, particularly in the sense of a crime boss.

don (plural don dem, quantified don)

1. don, leader, community leader, crime boss, head of a garrison

   Dem figet seh mi a di one don?

   Have they forgotten that I'm the one true leader?

   From di word start go roun' seh him want turn di don, a whole heap a man start pree him and warn him fi be careful.

   As soon as word got around that he wanted to become the community leader, a lot of people took notice of him and warned him to be careful.

• don dada

Derived from English done.

don

1. As an auxiliary verb:
   1. (auxiliary, taking a past tense) Used as a remote past marker
      • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, Matyu 2:9:

        Afta dem don lisn di king, dem lef go we. Az dem a go bout dem bizniz so, no di sed staar we dem did si iina di Iis said kom bak agen! It galang infronta dem til it riich wich paat di pikni did de, an a uova de-so it tap.

        After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

        (literally, “After they listened to the king, they left  […]”)

2. to order to cease, to desist (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

don

1. done, finished, completed (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

• Larry Chang (2014) Biesik Jumiekan: Introduction to Jamaican Language, Chuu Wod, →ISBN, page 200

don

1. Rōmaji transcription of どん
2. Rōmaji transcription of ドン

From Old English dōn, from Proto-West Germanic *dōn, from Proto-Germanic *dōną.

• donne, doyn, do, doon

• IPA^(key): /doːn/
• Rhymes: -oːn

don

1. To do, perform (an activity)
2. To complete, finish
3. To make, create
4. To put, place, position, raise
5. To remove, take away
6. To go or move (in a specified direction)
7. To behave (in a specified manner)
8. (auxiliary) To cause (an action or state)
9. (auxiliary) Emphasises the verb that follows it
10. (auxiliary) Stands in for a verb in a dependent clause

As in modern English, several uses of this verb are highly idiomatic.

• doer

• English: do
• Geordie English: de, dee, div
• Scots: dae, dee (Doric)
• Yola: doone, deen

• “dọ̄n, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 March 2018.
• Wright, Joseph, and Elizabeth Mary Wright. An Elementary Middle English Grammar, p193. Oxford University Press, 1923.

From Old English dōn on.

• IPA^(key): /dɔn/

don

1. (Late Middle English) to put on

• English: don
• Yola: don

• “don, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old Saxon dōn.

dôn

1. to do

Irregular: present 1sg dô, 2sg deist (dôst, dṏst), 3sg deit (dôt, dṏt), pl. dôn, dôt, dṏt, preterit 1sg dede, 2sg dêdest, 3sg dede, pl. dêden, past participle gedân, dân

From English done.

don

1. has/have (perfect aspect auxiliary)

   Wi don chop.

   We have eaten.

   • 2024 March 17, Selin Girit and Grujica Andric, “Wetin go happun to your social media accounts wen you die”, in BBC News Pidgin‎^[3]:

     "Accounts go dey live till family member tell di social media app say di pesin don kpeme."

     "Accounts remain active until a family member informs the social media app that the person has died."

• dihn, dohin, dohn, duhn, dwîn

From Arabic دُهْن (duhn). But compare Turkish donyağı, don yağı (“tallow”), which is said to be from the root of donmak (“to freeze”).

don m

1. (melted) fat, grease

   Synonym: bez

   Bîne nanê genimî, duhn bide, bêxe leşê min, ezê sax bim. ― Bring wheat bread, spread it with fat, put it on my body and I shall be cured [i.e., come to life again].

• Chyet, Michael L. (2020) “don”, in Ferhenga Birûskî: Kurmanji–English Dictionary (Language Series; 1), volume I, London: Transnational Press, page 201b
• Gülensoy, Tuncer (1994) “don”, in Kürtçenin Etimolojik Sözlüğü [Etymological Dictionary of Kurdish]‎^[4] (in Turkish), Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, page 65

From Proto-Samic *tonë.

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈton/

don

1. you (singular)

Inflection of don (irregular)
Nominative	don
Genitive	dū
Nominative	don
Genitive	dū
Accusative	dū
Illative	dutnje
Locative	dūs
Comitative	duinna
Essive	dūnin

• Koponen, Eino, Ruppel, Klaas, Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002–2008), Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎^[5], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• (Kautokeino) IPA^(key): /ˈtoːn/

dōn

1. accusative/genitive singular of dōt

From Latin dōnum.

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

don m (plural dons)

1. gift (something given to another voluntarily)
2. gift (a talent or natural ability)
3. donation (a voluntary gift or contribution for a specific cause)

• dar
• donar

• doan — Anglian
• doa, doæ, doe — Northumbrian

From Proto-West Germanic *dōn (“to do”). The exact development of past tense forms dyde, dydest, and dydon is unexplained, for such forms have -y- instead of expected *-e- (*dede, *dedest, *dedon) from Proto-Germanic past stem *ded-/*dēd-.

• IPA^(key): /doːn/

dōn

1. to do

   Hwæt dēst þū?

   What are you doing?

   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Iċ dyde swā iċ meahte.

     I did what I could.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 17:12

     Hīe dydon swā hwæt swā hīe woldon.

     They did whatever they wanted.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 41:55

     Gangaþ tō Iosepe and dōþ swā hwæt swā hē ēow seċġe.

     Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.

   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Ǣte þū tōdæġ? Iċ dyde.

     Did you eat today? I did.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "Sermon on the Beginning of Creation"

     Þæt ċild wēox swā swā ōðru ċildru dōþ.

     The child grew as other children do.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 3:8

     Þā behȳdde Adam hine, and his wīf ēac swā dyde, fram Godes ġesihte.

     Then Adam hid himself from God's sight, and his wife did so too.

2. to make, cause
   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Passion of St. Bartholomew the Apostle"

     Þū dydest mīnne brōðor his god forlǣtan.

     You made my brother renounce his god.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 3:3

     Ġeġearwiaþ Dryhtnes weġ, dōþ his sīðas rihte.

     Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 4:19

     Folgiaþ mē, and iċ dō þæt ġit bēoþ manna fisċeras.

     Follow me, and I'll make you fishers of people.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 42:36

     Þā cwæþ Iācōb heora fæder, "Bearnlēasne ġē habbaþ mē ġedōnne. Næbbe iċ Iōsēp and Simeon is on bendum; nū ġē nimaþ Beniamin æt mē."

     Then Jacob, their father, said, "You have made me childless. I don't have Joseph and Simeon is in chains; now you're taking Benjamin from me."

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "The Nativity of St. Andrew the Apostle"

     Swā swā hī ǣr mid nette fixodon on sǣlicum ȳðum, swā dyde Crist þæt hī siððan mid his heofonlīcan lāre manna sāwla ġefixodon; forðan ðe hī ætbrūdon folces menn fram flǣsclīcum lustum, and fram woruldlīcum ġedwyldum tō staðolfæstnysse lybbendra eorðan, þæt is tō ðām ēċan ēðle, be ðām cwæð sē witega þurh Godes Gāst, "Iċ āsende mīne fisċeras, and hī ġefixiað hī; mīne huntan, and hī huntiað hī of ǣlċere dūne and of ǣlċere hylle."

     As they before with a net had fished on the sea waves, so Christ caused them afterwards by his heavenly lore to fish for the souls of men; for they withdrew the people from fleshly lusts, and from worldly errors to the stability of the earth of the living, that is, to the eternal country, of which the prophet, through God's Spirit, said, "I will send my fishers, and they shall fish for them; my hunters, and they shall hunt them from every down and from every hill."

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Memory of the Saints"

     Sē fēorða leahtor is ira þæt is on englisċ wēamōdnyss. Sēo dēð þæt sē man nāh his mōdes ġeweald and macað manslihtas and myċele yfelu.

     The fourth sin is Ira, that is in English, Anger; it causeth that a man have no power over his mind, and bringeth about manslaughters and many evils.

3. to put
   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Mark 7:33

     Hē dyde his fingras on his ēaran.

     He put his fingers in his ears.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Matthew 26:52

     Þā cwæþ sē Hǣlend tō him, "Dō þīn sweord eft on his sċēaðe."

     Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its sheath."

   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 9:23

     Hwæt þā Sēm and Iapheth dydon ānne hwītel on heora sċuldran and ēodon underbæc.

     So then Shem and Japheth put a blanket on their shoulders and walked backwards.

4. to add
   • c. 1011, Byrhtferth, Manual‎^[6]:

     Blōtmōnaþ hæfþ seofon rēgulārēs. Dō þrītiġ þǣr tō, þonne bēoþ þæt seofon and þrītiġ.

     November has seven regulares. Add thirty to that, and it is thirty-seven.

5. to take off, remove
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Exodus 3:5

     Dō þīn ġesċȳ of þīnum fōtum! Sōðlīċe sēo stōw þe þū on stentst is hālgu eorðe.

     Take your shoes off your feet! The place you're standing on is holy ground.

6. to treat someone (+ dative) a certain way
   • c. 973, Æthelwold, translation of the Rule of Saint Benedict

     XXXV. Be þām þæt man eallum munucum ġelīċe dōn sċyle.

     35. On how all monks should be treated equally.

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     Ēalā hū yfele mē dōþ maniġe weoroldmenn mid þām þæt iċ ne mōt wealdan mīnra āgenra þēawa.

     Many worldly people treat me so badly, I'm not allowed to use my own strengths.

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, Luke 16:19

     Nū iċ neom wierðe þæt iċ bēo þīn sunu nemned. Dō mē swā ānne of þīnum ierðlingum.

     I don't deserve to be called your son anymore. Treat me as one of your fieldworkers.

7. to give (+dative)
   • late 10th century, Ælfric, "Chair of Saint Peter"

     ...Næbbe iċ seolfor ne gold, iċ þē dō þæt iċ hæbbe...

     ...I have neither silver nor gold, I give thee that I have...

• Old English does not have do-support. While dōn does have auxiliary function in Old English, such uses are purely causative, equivalent to modern "to make" or "to cause to" (as per sense 2 above). Therefore, when asking "do you hate me?", one would say hatast þū mē? (literally "hatest thou me?"), not dēst þū mē hatian? (which would instead mean "do you make me hate?").
• There are some emphatic uses of dōn that bear some resemblance to do-support constructions, often involving the ǣġþer ġe ("both ... and ...") construction and other verbs in apposition, although the apposed verbs are finite rather than infinitives. In such contexts, dōn is generally better translated with "to be", and the apposed verbs with participles or adjectives as necessary: sē catt dēþ ǣġþer ġe slǣpð ġe wacaþ ("the cat is both asleep and awake", or if translated with do-support, "the cat does both sleep and be awake").
• Dōn can be used as a pro-verb (i.e. standing in for another verb, generally replacing one that was previously mentioned to avoid repetition), like the modern verb: Hatast þū mē swā swā hēo dēþ? ("Do you hate me like she does?")

• Middle English: don, donne, doyn, do, doon
  • English: do
  • Geordie English: de, dee, div
  • Scots: dae, dee (Doric)
  • Yola: doone, deen

• Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller (1898) “don”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• dun

From Latin donum.

• IPA^(key): /dun/

don oblique singular, m (oblique plural dons, nominative singular dons, nominative plural don)

1. gift

• French: don
• → Middle English: done

• IPA^(key): [don]

Univerbation of di (“of/from”) +‎ in (“the sg”)

don

1. of/from the sg

• dond, dont, dun, dund

Univerbation of do (“to/for”) +‎ in (“the sg”)

don

1. to/for the sg

• dond, dont, dun, dund, dúnn

don (gender unknown)

1. misfortune, evil

• Irish: don

• doan
• dūan
• duon

From Proto-West Germanic *dōn. Compare Old English dōn, Old Frisian dwā, dūa, duā, Old Dutch duon, Old High German tuon.

dōn

1. to do
   • 9th c. Heliand, verse 1456

     Dot im gōdes filu,...

     Do much good for him,...

2. to put
   • 9th c. Heliand, verse 4389-4390

     ...an thea winistron hand sō duot hē ōk thea sāligon an thea swīđeron half...

     ...in the left hand so put he as well the blessed in the right side..

• Middle Low German: dôn
  • Low German: deoen (Paderbornisch), dohn (Münsterländisch); doon

Köbler, Gerhard (2014) Altsächsisches Wörterbuch‎^[7] (in German), 5th edition

• IPA^(key): /(ˈ)don/

From Late Latin dom, from domnus (“master, sir”), from Latin dominus, from domus (“a house”).

don m (plural dones)

1. (honorific) sir, master; a title prefixed to male given names
   • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 1r:

     [R]emont por la gracia de dios. arçobispo de Toledo. a don almeric. arçidiano de antiochia con grant amor ſalut ⁊ amidtad.

     Remont, by the Grace of God archbishop of Toledo, to master Almerich, archdeacon of Antioch, with great love, haleness and goodwill.

• Spanish: don (see there for further descendants)

From Latin dōnum (“a gift”), from dō (“I give”).

don m (plural dones)

1. gift, talent
   • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 65r:

     eſtonces el rey dio grandes dones adaniel e diol ſennoria ſobre ſos ſabios e la cibdat de babilonia […]

     Then the king gave Daniel great gifts and gave him rulership over his wise men and the city of Babylon […]

• Spanish: don

Shortening of dont.

don

1. apocopic form of dont; where
   • c. 1200, Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 56r:

     Euino el ppħa iſaẏas e dixo al reẏ ezechias dõ uinieron eſtos barones. ⁊ q̃ te dixieron dixo el de tierra de luen uinieron de babilonia.

     And the prophet Isaiah came and said to king Hezekiah, “Where did these men come from, and what did they say to you?” He said, “From a distant land. They came from Babylon”.

• Spanish: do

• dhan

• IPA^(key): /t̪ɔn̪ˠ/
• Hyphenation: don

don (+ dative)

1. (higher register) contraction of do an

   Chaidh i don bhùth. ― She went to the shop.

• Like the bare article an, don triggers lenition if the following noun begins with f, c and g.
• In the modern language this form is considered to be high register, with dhan being generally more common.

• Colin Mark (2003) “do”, in The Gaelic-English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 235

• ron (rhoticized)
• do', ro' (apocoped)

Both from the shortening of the earlier donnu (“master, sir”) or from Late Latin dom, ultimately from Latin domnus > dominus (“master, owner”), itself from domus (“a house”).

• IPA^(key): /dɔn/ (Standard)
• IPA^(key): /ɾɔn/ (Rhotacized)
• Rhymes: -on
• Hyphenation: don

don m (plural donni)

1. (obsolete) sir, master, lord
2. (obsolete) social honorary title referred to men possessing patrimonial assets
3. a title of respect to a man, especially older, prefixed to first names

• (gender): donna
• (age): carusu

• IPA^(key): /ˈdon/ [ˈd̪õn]
• Rhymes: -on
• Syllabification: don

Inherited from Late Latin dom (“a courtesy title for monks and abbots”), from domnus (“master, sir”), from Classical Latin dominus, from domus (“a house”).

don m (plural dones, feminine doña, feminine plural doñas)

1. (obsolete) sir, master, lord
2. a title of respect to a man, prefixed to first names
   • 1844, José Zorrilla, Don Juan Tenorio‎^[8], lines 57–58:

     [Y] dime: don Luis Mejías ¿ha venido hoy?

     [A]nd tell me: mister Luis Mejía, did he come today?

• → Catalan: don
• → Czech: don
• → Tagalog: Don

From Latin dōnum (“a gift”) (whence English donation), from dō (“to give”).

don m (plural dones)

1. gift, present
2. gift, talent, knack

   Cielos, tu tío realmente tiene un don para gastar todo su dinero en el casino, ¿no?

   Yikes, your uncle really has a knack for blowing all his money in the casino, doesn't he?

• Like with the English word "knack", don can be used to describe a positive gift or talent, or a negative one like a bad habit or a neutral tendency to do something.

• “don”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

From Dutch dom.

don

1. stupid

don

1. stupidity

   Sranan odo: don no abi dresi.

   Surinamese proverb: there is no medicine for stupidity.

• → Caribbean Javanese: dong
• → Kari'na: don
• → Saramaccan: dón

Borrowed from Low German don (“"doing," work, thing”), from Low German don (“do”), which is cognate with English do, German tun.

don n

1. a tool, an implement

   Synonym: (colloquial) doning

• don in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• don in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• don in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• ond

From Ottoman Turkish طون (don), from Proto-Turkic *tōn.

don

1. underpants
2. jogging pants
3. pants
4. shorts

From Ottoman Turkish طوڭ (doñ), from Proto-Turkic *toŋ. Cognate with Chuvash тӑм (tăm), also related to Chinese 凍 / 冻 (dòng).^[1]

don

1. frost

don

1. second-person singular imperative of donmak

• donma
• donmak

Borrowed from Classical Persian دانه (dāna).

don

1. grain

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zɔn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [jɔŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [jɔŋ˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

• đon

(classifier con) don

1. Asiatic brush-tailed porcupine (Atherurus macrourus)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

(classifier con) don

1. (Quảng Ngãi) kind of clam

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

don • (𤈊, 燉, 𱱤) (diminutive reduplication don don)

1. withered and shrunken

• héo don

• IPA^(key): /d̪on̪/

don

1. a cape, headland

• Clemens Voorhoeve (1982) The Makian languages and their neighbours‎^[9], Pacific linguistics

From Proto-Philippine *dahun, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *dahun.

don

1. leaf (of a plant)

From Middle English don, from Old English dōn on.

• IPA^(key): /dɔn/

don

1. To put on, as clothes, dress.

   Synonyms: deen, dieeght

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 36

don

1. kind of bread

don

1. drink

• http://www.languageinindia.com/feb2013/zouphonologyfinal.pdf