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doughty

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doughty¹

  • /ˈdaʊti/ UK
  • /ˈdaʊti/ US
  • [-ɾi] US
  • [ˈdʌʊ̯ɾi]

Sounds like dowdy (in accents with flapping) · Rhymes with -aʊti

Where it comes from

The adjective is derived from Middle English doughty (“brave, bold, valiant”), from Old English dohtiġ, dyhtiġ (“competent, good, strong, valiant”), from Proto-West Germanic *duhtīg.

The English word may be analysed as dought + -y, and is cognate with Scots douchty, douchtie (“bold, valiant”), Dutch duchtig (“severe, strict”), German tüchtig (“capable, competent, efficient; big; hard”), Danish dygtig (“virtuous, proficient”), Swedish duktig (“efficient; good; capable, clever, smart”), Icelandic dygðugur (“virtuous, stable”).

The noun is derived from the adjective.

adjective doughtier · more doughty · doughtiest · most doughty · doubty

  1. archaic, literary Bold; brave, courageous. Hurriedly he snatched up others, one or two at a time, until he had slaughtered thirty of Hrothgar's doughtiest earls.

    Similar: dauntless, fearless, intrepid, resolute, stouthearted, valiant, adventurous, mettlesome, aweless, bad, bold, brass-balled · Opposite: backboneless, base, soft, bitch-ass, boneless, caitiff, candy-assed, chicken, chicken-hearted, chicken-livered, chickenshit, courageless

  2. archaic, literary Robust, sturdy; strong and perhaps stout. Aye, here's a ship of doughty build and strong: But not for lads like you to sail to port.
  3. uncommon Catachresis for dowdy.

noun doughties · doubty

  1. archaic, rare A person who is bold or brave.

Doughty²

Where it comes from

From doughty, a nickname for a powerful and brave man, especially a champion jouster.

proper noun Doughtys · Doughtie · Douty · Dufty

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.

Translations

Every language

adj bold; brave, courageous — see also brave

Españolintrépido, intrépida, indómito, indómita, temerario, temeraria
Italianocoraggioso, intrepido, indomito, baldo, temerario, ardito
Русскийсме́лый smélyj, хра́брый xrábryj, отва́жный otvážnyj, до́блестный dóblestnyj, реши́тельный rešítelʹnyj

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{doughty_2026,
  title = {doughty},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/doughty},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}