# dot

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɒt/ · frequency rank #6,564

## Definitions
1. A small, round spot.
2. A punctuation mark used to indicate the end of a sentence or an abbreviated part of a word; a full stop; a period.
3. A point used as a diacritical mark above or below various letters of the Latin script, as in Ȧ, Ạ, Ḅ, Ḃ, Ċ.
4. A symbol used for separating the fractional part of a decimal number from the whole part, for indicating multiplication or a scalar product, or for various other purposes.
5. in musical notation, a symbol in the form of a small point placed after a note, indicating that its duration is to be augmented by 50%.
6. One of the two symbols used in Morse code.
7. A lump or clot.
8. Anything small and like a speck comparatively; a small portion or specimen.
9. A dot ball.
10. buckshot, projectile from a "dotty" or shotgun
11. Clipping of dotty (“shotgun”).
12. confinement facility
13. Clipping of dotfile

## Etymology
From Middle English *dot, dotte, from Old English dott (“a dot, point”), from Proto-West Germanic *dott, from Proto-Germanic *duttaz (“wisp”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Dot, Dotte (“a clump”), Dutch dot (“lump, knot, clod”), Low German Dutte (“a plug”), dialectal Swedish dott (“a little heap, bunch, clump”).

## Easily confused with
- **Dr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dr)
- **DS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-ds)
- **DT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dt)
- **DP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dp)
- **dw** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dw)
- **Dx** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dx)
- **DV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dv)
- **dy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dy)
- **DQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dq)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-due)
- **dry** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dry)
- **DVD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dvd)
- **duo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-duo)
- **dug** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dug)
- **dye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dye)
- **dub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dub)
- **dow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dow)
- **duh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-duh)
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dre)
- **DUI** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dot-vs-dui)

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