Doon or dun?
doon is an adverb meaning “Down”; dun is a noun meaning “A brownish grey colour”. Use doon as an adverb and dun as a noun. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) dun is about 5.0 times as common as doon.
What is the difference between doon and dun?
| doon | dun | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb, preposition, adjective, noun | noun, adjective, verb, interjection |
| Meaning | Down On a lower level than before; down | A brownish grey colour Of a brownish grey colour A collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding |
| Example | none recorded | Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for… |
| Forms | none | duns |
| Pronunciation | /duːn/ | /dʌn/ /dʊn/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | 2.1 times per million words |
Sources: doon and dun in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of doon and dun
doon
- 1
Down
- 2
ScotlandDown
- 3
On a lower level than before; down
- 4
Alternative form of dun, an ancient or medieval fortification
dun
- 1
A brownish grey colour
- 2
Of a brownish grey colour
- 3
A collector of debts, especially one who is insistent and demanding
- 4
To ask or beset a debtor for payment
Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston, not above five guineas remained and that very morning he had been dunned by a tradesman for twice that sum
- 5
A newly hatched, immature mayfly; a mayfly subimago
- 6
An ancient or medieval fortification; especially a hill-fort in Scotland or Ireland
- 7
datedTo cure, as codfish, by laying them, after salting, in a pile in a dark place, covered with saltgrass or a similar substance
- 8
A mound or small hill
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, doon or dun?
doon appears about once in every 2 million words; dun 2.1 times per million words.
doon about once in every 2 million wordsdun 2.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).