# dross

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɹɒs/ · frequency rank #61,429

## Definitions
1. Waste or impure matter.
2. Waste or impure matter.
3. Waste or impure matter.
4. Worthless or trivial matter.
5. Residual raw opium left in an opium pipe which can be recycled for further sale or use.

## Etymology
From Middle English drosse, dros, from Old English drōs, from Proto-Germanic *drōhs (“dregs, sediment”).
Also compare Old English drōsna, drōsne (“a ground, sediment, lees, dregs, dirt, ear wax”), from Proto-Germanic *drōhsnǭ, *drōhsnō (“dregs, sediment”), derived from *drōhs. Alternatively, this may be from *dragjō + *-snō (“yeast, sediment”; compare *dragjō (“yeast”)), as if from *drēcg + -sn.
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrā́ks (“sediment, yeast”).
Cognate with Scots dros, drose, drosse (“small particles, fragments, dross”), Middle Dutch droes (“dregs”), Dutch droesem (“dregs”), German Drusen (“lees, dregs”), Latin fracēs (“grounds or dregs of oil”). Related also to drast, dregs.

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