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douth

English

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douth¹

  • /daʊθ/

Rhymes with -aʊθ

Where it comes from

From Middle English douthe, douth, duweðe (“body of retainers, people, might, dignity, worth”), from Old English duguþ (“manhood, host, multitude, troops”), from Proto-West Germanic *dugunþu, *dugunþi, from Proto-Germanic *dugunþō (“power, competency, notefulness, virtue”), from *duganą (“to be useful”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewgʰ- (“to be ready, be sufficient”).

Cognate with North Frisian døgd, døged (“ability, good deed”), Dutch deugd (“virtue”), German Tugend (“virtue”), Swedish dygd (“virtue”), Danish dyd (“virtue”), Icelandic dygð, dyggð (“virtue”). Related to dow, doughty.

noun douths

  1. obsolete, uncountable, usually Virtue; excellence; atheldom; nobility; power; riches.
  2. obsolete, uncountable, usually A group of people, especially an army or retinue.
  3. dialectal, uncountable, usually Reliability; ease; security; shelter. There's no^([sic]) much douth in a wire fence.

adjective more douth · most douth

  1. dialectal Snug; comfortable; in easy circumstances.

douth²

  • /daʊθ/

Rhymes with -aʊθ

noun douths

  1. alternative Alternative form of dought

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{douth_2026,
  title = {douth},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/douth},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}