doughty

doughty

English

WOTD – 5 February 2020

Alternative forms

• doubty (obsolete)

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Middle English doughty (“brave, bold, valiant”), from Old English dohtiġ, dyhtiġ (“competent, doughty, good, strong, valiant”),[1] from Proto-West Germanic *duhtīg.

The English word may be analysed as dought +‎ -y, and is cognate with Danish dygtig (“virtuous, proficient”), Dutch duchtig (“severe, strict”), German tüchtig (“capable, competent, efficient; big; hard”), Icelandic dygðugur (“virtuous, stable”), Scots douchty, douchtie (“bold, valiant”), Swedish duktig (“efficient; good; capable, clever, smart”).[2][3]

The noun is derived from the adjective.[2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊti/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdaʊti/, [-ɾi]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈdʌʊ̯ɾi] (Canadian raising)
• Rhymes: -aʊti

Adjective

doughty (comparative doughtier or more doughty, superlative doughtiest or most doughty)

1. (dated or archaic) Bold; brave, courageous.

   Synonyms: dauntless, fearless, intrepid, resolute, stouthearted, valiant; see also Thesaurus:brave

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:cowardly

   • 2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “‘Tennessee Williams,’ by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, page 13]”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, ISSN 0362-4331, OCLC 971436363, archived from the original on 21 August 2019:

     [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

Derived terms

• dought
• doughtily
• doughtiness
• doughty-handed

Translations

bold; brave, courageous — See also translations at brave

Bulgarian: смел (bg) (smel), реши́телен (bg) (rešítelen) Dutch: dapper (nl) Italian: coraggioso (it), intrepido (it), indomito (it), baldo (it), temerario (it), ardito (it) Middle English: doughty Russian: сме́лый (ru) (smélyj), хра́брый (ru) (xrábryj), отва́жный (ru) (otvážnyj), до́блестный (ru) (dóblestnyj), реши́тельный (ru) (rešítelʹnyj) (resolute)

Noun

doughty (plural doughties)

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

Translations

person who is bold or brave

References

1. “doughtī, adj. and n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. Compare “doughty, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2018.
3. “doughty, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• dogheti, doghte, doghti, doghuti, doȝti, doȝty, dohty, dohuthi, dohuti, douchti, dougheti, doughety, douȝcti, douȝthi, douȝti, douȝty, douhte, douhti, douhty, dousti, douthi, douti, dowghty, dowȝti, dowȝty, dowsty, dowty, duchti, dughti, duȝte, duȝti, duȝty, duhtie, duthi
• dohti, duhhtiȝ, duhti, duhtiȝ (early)

Etymology

From Old English dohtiġ, dyhtiġ, from Proto-West Germanic *duhtīg, *dohtag.

Forms with /u/ (/uː/ though lengthening before /xt/) are likely due to the analogy of douen (early /ˈduɣən/).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈduxtiː/, /ˈduːxtiː/, /ˈdɔxtiː/, /ˈdɔu̯xtiː/

Adjective

doughty (comparative doughtiere, superlative doughtiest)

1. Brave, fearless, doughty; demonstrating valiance.
2. Amazing, fine; of high quality or worth.

Related terms

• dought
• doughtyly
• doughtynesse

Descendants

• English: doughty
• Scots: douchty, douchtie

References

• “doughtī, adj & n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-11.