don

See also Don, đơn, and DON

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Latin dominus, "lord", "head of household", akin to Spanish don and Italian dom; from domus, "house", + diminutive suffix -inus. Compare dominie.

Noun

don (plural dons)

  1. A university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge.
  2. A mafia boss.
Derived terms
Translations
university professor
mafia boss

Etymology 2

A contraction of Middle English do on. Compare also doff.

Verb

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

  1. (clothing) to put on, to dress in
    To don one's clothes.
Antonyms
  • (put on clothes): doff
Translations
put on clothes

Anagrams

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Breton

Adjective

don

  1. deep
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French

Etymology

From Latin donum.

Pronunciation

Noun

don m (plural dons)

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

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [d̪ˠənˠ]

Contraction

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.
Usage notes

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

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA: [d̪ˠɔnˠ]

Noun

don

  1. misfortune
Usage notes

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!".

Mutation
Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
don dhon ndon
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
Derived terms
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Italian

Etymology

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

Noun

don m (inv)

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

Rafsi

don

  1. rafsi of do.
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Nigerian Pidgin

Etymology

From English done.

Verb

don

  1. have (perfect aspect auxiliary)
    Wi don chop = "We have eaten"
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Northern Sami

Pronoun

don

  1. you (thou)

Inflection

declension of don
singular dual plural
Nominative don doai dii
Genitive du dudno din
Accusative du dudno din
Illative dutnje dudnuide didjiide
Locative dus dudnos dis
Comitative duinna dudnuin dinguin
Essive dunin dudnon dinin
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Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *dōną (“to do”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to make, do, place”). Cognate with Old Frisian dūa, duā, dwā (West Frisian dwaan), Old Saxon dōn, doan, duan, duon, Old Dutch duon (Dutch doen), Old High German tuon (German tun); and, outside the Germanic languages, with Ancient Greek τίθημι (tithēmi), Latin faciō, Old Irish dorat (Irish déan), Old Church Slavonic дѣти (děti).

Pronunciation

Verb

dōn (irregular)

  1. to do

Conjugation

Conjugation of don (irregular)
indicative present preterite
1st-person singular dō, dōm dyde
2nd-person singular dēst dydest
3rd-person singular dēþ dyde
plural dōþ dydon
subjunctive present preterite
singular dō dyde
plural dōn dyden
imperative
singular dō
plural dōþ
participle present past
dōnde (ġe)dōn

Descendants

  • Middle English: don
    • English: to do
    • Scots: dae
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Old Irish

Noun

don

  1. misfortune, evil

Descendants

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Old Saxon

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Verb

dōn

  1. to do

Conjugation

Conjugation of dōn
indicative present preterite
1st person singular dōm deda
2nd person singular dōs dādi
3rd person singular dōd deda
plural dōth dādun
subjunctive present past
1st person singular dōe dādi
2nd person singular dōes dādis
3rd person singular dōe dādi
plural dōen dādin
imperative present —
singular dō
plural dōth
participle present past
dōndi (gi)dōn

Descendants

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

do + an

Alternative forms

Preposition

don

  1. to the (singular)
    Chaidh i don bhùth. - She went to the shop.
  2. for the (singular)

Usage notes

  • Without the definite article and in the plural the form do is used.
  • Lenites words beginning with b, c, f, g, m and p.
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Spanish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Late Latin dom (“a courtesy title for monks and abbots”), from domnus (“master, sir”), from Classical Latin dominus, from domus (“a house”), from Proto-Indo-European *dṓm (“a house”), from root Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to build”)

Noun

don m (plural dones)

  1. (obsolete) sir, master, lord
  2. A title of respect to a man, prefixed to Christian names
See also

Etymology 2

From Latin donum (“a gift”), from do (“to give”), from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”)

Noun

don m (plural dones)

  1. gift, present
  2. gift, talent, knack
See also
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Swedish

Noun

don n

  1. a tool, a means

Declension

Declension of don
singular plural
Neuter indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative don donet don donen
genitive dons donets dons donens

Related terms

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Turkish

Etymology 1

From Old Turkic ton, from Proto-Turkic *tōn.

Noun

don

  1. underpants

Etymology 2

From Old Turkic toŋ, from Proto-Turkic *tong, *doŋ.

Noun

don

  1. frost
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Last modified on 20 May 2013, at 18:32