# dig

> English word · Verb · IPA /dɪɡ/ · frequency rank #4,940

## Definitions
1. To move hard-packed earth out of the way, especially downward to make a hole with a shovel. Or to drill, or the like, through rocks, roads, or the like. More generally, to make any similar hole by moving material out of the way.
2. To get by digging; to take from the ground; often with up.
3. To take ore from its bed, in distinction from making excavations in search of ore.
4. To work like a digger; to study ploddingly and laboriously.
5. To investigate, to research, often followed by out or up.
6. To thrust; to poke.
7. To defend against an attack hit by the opposing team by successfully passing the ball

## Etymology
From Middle English diggen (“to dig”, 13th c.), an alteration of dīken, from Old English dīcian (“to dig a ditch, mound up earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *dīkōn, which see for cognates. This verb is denominal from Proto-Germanic *dīkaz (“pool, puddle; dyke, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stab, dig”).
The form with g may have been influenced by Old French *diguer, a variant of dikier, itself from the West Germanic verb above. French forms with g are attested only in the 15th c., thus 200 years later than in English. On the other hand, French has according forms also for the underlying noun (cf. digue) and the phonetic development is more plausible in French than in English.

## Easily confused with
- **do** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-do)
- **Dr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dr)
- **DJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dj)
- **DM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dm)
- **DS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-ds)
- **DL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dl)
- **DT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dt)
- **DP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dp)
- **dw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dw)
- **Dx** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dx)
- **DV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dv)
- **dy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dy)
- **DQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dq)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-due)
- **dog** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dog)
- **dry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dry)
- **don** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-don)
- **DNA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dna)
- **doc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-doc)
- **DVD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dig-vs-dvd)

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