don
/dɑn/noun, verb
don is spelled D-O-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 40 times per million words in written English, the 2,487th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Don, the name). People search “dawn vs don” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, don means “A university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of don is dons.
How many letters and syllables are in don?
| Letters | 3: D-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 40 times per million words; the 2,487th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is don?
Don appears 40 times per million words in written English, the 2,487th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Don, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce don?
- UK /dɒn/
- US /dɑn/
Don has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-don.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with don
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: don't.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with don?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as don from its last stressed vowel (/ɑn/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: nod.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of don
- dons plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- donning participle, present
- donned participle, past
- don’
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does don mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
UKA university professor, particularly one at Oxford or Cambridge.
- 2
CanadaAn employee of a university residence who lives among the student residents.
- 3
A mafia boss, especially one who is Italian or Italian-American.
- 4
A (usually Spanish or Italian) title of respect to a man, especially a lord or nobleman.
- 5
Any man, bloke, dude.
verb
- 1
To put on clothing; to dress (oneself) in an article of personal attire.
To don one's clothes.
- 2
Alternative form of don't
noun
- 1
dissolved organic nitrogen
- 2
Abbreviation of deoxynivalenol, a toxic byproduct of Fusarium head blight of barley.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Don in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense put on clothes:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does don come from?
From Latin dominus (“lord, head of household”), akin to Italian don, Sicilian don, Spanish don; from domus (“house”). Doublet of dom, domine, dominie, and dominus.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).