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-dom

English

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-dom¹

  • /-dəm/ US, UK

Where it comes from

From Middle English -dom, from Old English -dōm (“-dom: state, condition, power, authority, property, right, office, quality”, suffix), from Proto-West Germanic *-dōm, from Proto-Germanic *-dōmaz.

Cognate with Scots -dom (“-dom”), North Frisian -dom (“-dom”), West Frisian -dom (“-dom”), Dutch -dom (“-dom”), Low German -dom (“-dom”), German -tum (“-dom”), Danish -dom (“-dom”) -dømme (“-dom”), Swedish -dom (“-dom”) -döme (“-dom”), Norwegian -dom (“-dom”), Icelandic -dómur (“-dom”), Norwegian Bokmål -dømme, Norwegian Nynorsk -døme. Same as Old English dōm (“doom, judgment, sentence, condemnation, ordeal, judicial sentence, decree, ordinance, law, custom; justice, equity; direction, ruling, governing, command; might, power, supremacy, majesty, glory, magnificence, splendor, reputation, honor, praise, dignity, authority; state, condition”). No relation to English domain or dominion. More at doom.

suffix -doms

  1. countable, morpheme, uncountable Forms nouns denoting the condition or state of the root word. boredom, freedom, martyrdom, stardom
  2. countable, morpheme, uncountable Forms nouns denoting the domain or jurisdiction of the root word. Christendom, fiefdom, Hindudom, Islamdom, kingdom, Saxondom
  3. countable, morpheme, uncountable Forms nouns — usually nonce words — denoting the set of all examples of the suffixed word. catdom, dogdom, furrydom, gothdom, wingdom
  4. countable, morpheme, slang, uncountable Forms nouns denoting the fandom of the suffixed word. Potterdom, stfdom

-dom²

  • /-dɒm/ UK
  • /-dɑm/ US

Where it comes from

From dom, shortening of variously domination, dominance, or dominator.

suffix -doms

  1. countable, morpheme, uncountable Forms uncountable nouns denoting a type of domination.
  2. countable, morpheme, uncountable Forms countable nouns denoting a type of dominator.

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MLA

"-dom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/-dom. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

-dom. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/-dom

Chicago

"-dom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/-dom.

BibTeX
@misc{dom_2026,
  title = {-dom},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/-dom},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}