# date

> English word · Noun · IPA /deɪt/ · frequency rank #605

## Definitions
1. The fruit of the date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, somewhat in the shape of an olive, containing a soft, sweet pulp and enclosing a hard kernel.
2. The date palm.
3. The anus.

## Etymology
From Middle English date, from Old French date, datil, datille, from Latin dactylus (likely via Old Provençal datil), from Ancient Greek δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”) (from the resemblance of the date to a human finger), probably a folk-etymological alteration of a word from a Semitic source such as Arabic دَقَل (daqal, “variety of date palm”) or Hebrew דֶּקֶל (deqel, “date palm”). Doublet of dactyl and dactylus.

## Easily confused with
- **de** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-de)
- **DT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dt)
- **day** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-day)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-due)
- **die** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-die)
- **dot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dot)
- **Dee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dee)
- **doe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-doe)
- **dye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dye)
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dre)
- **DAW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-daw)
- **Dax** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dax)
- **DDT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-ddt)
- **dit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dit)
- **DTs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dts)
- **DMT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dmt)
- **days** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-days)
- **done** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-done)
- **dude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-dude)
- **duty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/date-vs-duty)

## Common misspellings (5)
`adte`, `daet`, `datte`, `ddate`, `dtae`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/date