dote
/dəʊt/
"dote" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“dote” is an uncommon English word, ranked #72,252 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #72,252
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | dote |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /dəʊt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #72,252 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “dote” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for dote is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dəʊt/. Corpus data places it at rank #72,252 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for dote, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is derived from Middle English doten, from Middle Low German doten (“to be foolish”) or Middle Dutch doten (“to be silly”). Doublet of doit (Scottish English). The noun in the sense of "imbecile" is derived from Middle English dote (“simpleton”), i… The correct English form is dote, spelled D-O-T-E.
Definition
- 1To be weakly or foolishly fond of somebody.
- 2To act in a foolish manner; to be senile.
- 3To rot, decay.
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English doten, from Middle Low German doten (“to be foolish”) or Middle Dutch doten (“to be silly”). Doublet of doit (Scottish English). The noun in the sense of "imbecile" is derived from Middle English dote (“simpleton”), itself from doten (see above). The noun in the sense of "darling" and "decay" is derived from the modern verb.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “dote”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is D-O-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dəʊt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.