The Meaning of Doe: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know the definition of doe? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word doe, including its definition, etymology, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What does the word doe mean?

According to Collins English Dictionary and the American Heritage Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, the word doe is a noun that means a female hare, deer, antelopes, kangaroos, mice, or female rabbit. This word most frequently refers to a female fallow deer, but can also be used to refer to the female of other animals, especially similar animals. This word is also used to refer to an unnamed male person or unnamed female person, i.e. John Doe and Jane Doe. The pronunciation of doe is doʊ or dəʊ. The plural of doe is the plural does.

Many different languages also contain words that mean doe. You may notice that some of these words look very similar to one another. These are called cognates. Cognates are words and phrases that look and sound similar between languages while also meaning something similar. These are often formed when two words have the same language of origin or root. This list of translations for the word doe is provided by Word Sense

  •  Serbo-Croatian: срна‎ (fem.), srna‎ (fem.), кошута‎ (fem.), košuta‎ (fem.)
  •  Spanish: cierva‎ (fem.), cabra‎ (fem.) (of a goat)
  •  Bokmål: hind‎ (masc.) (f)
  •  German: Hirschkuh‎ (fem.), Hinde‎ (fem.) (poetic), Hindin‎ (fem.) (poetic)
  •  Volapük: (♂♀) stäg‎, (♂) histäg‎, (♀) jistäg‎
  •  Romanian: ciută‎ (fem.), căprioară‎
  •  Tagalog: libay‎
  •  Luxembourgish: Hirschkou‎ (fem.)
  •  Pali: becia‎
  •  Swedish: hind‎
  •  Greek: ελαφίνα‎ (fem.)
  •  Old English: hind‎
  •  Dutch: hinde‎ (fem.)
  •  Slovak: laň‎ (fem.), srna‎ (fem.)
  •  Danish: hind‎
  •  Irish: eilit‎ (fem.)
  •  Hungarian: szarvastehén‎
  •  Czech: laň‎ (fem.), srna‎ (fem.)
  •  Finnish: naarashirvi‎ (moose), vaadin‎ (reindeer or other small deer)
  •  Latin: cerva‎
  •  Ojibwe: waawaashkesh‎
  •  Scottish Gaelic: maoiseach‎ (fem.)
  •  Portuguese: corça‎ (fem.)
  •  Armenian: եղնիկ‎
  •  Ido: cervino‎
  •  Persian: آهو ماده‎ (âhu-ye mâde)
  •  Mandarin: 母鹿‎ (mǔlù), 麀‎ (yōu), 雌鹿‎ (cílù)
  •  Aromanian: cãprioarã‎ (fem.)
  •  Bulgarian: сърна‎
  •  Navajo: bįįhtsaʼii‎, bįįhʼáád‎
  •  Old French: bisse‎ (fem.)
  •  West Frisian: wyfkehart‎
  •  Polish: łania‎ (fem.)
  •  Esperanto: cervino‎
  •  French: biche‎ (fem.)
  •  Japanese: 麀‎ (めじか, mejika), 雌‎ (めす, mesu) (various female animals)
  •  Italian: cerva‎ (fem.)
  •  Taos: pę̀łȉwéna‎
  •  Turkish: maral‎
  •  Russian: оле́ниха‎ (fem.), олени́ха‎ (fem.), са́мка оле́ня‎ (fem.)
  •  Walloon: bih‎
  •  Malayalam: പേടമാന്‍‎

According to The Free Dictionary, the word doe is also an acronym with a plethora of different meanings. This abbreviation can stand for various different things. If you are worried that someone might not know what you mean by the abbreviation DOE, use the full form of the acronym, slang term, or shorthand.

  •  Distributed Object Environment
  •  Depth of Exploration
  •  Direct Operating Expense (financial management)
  •  Direct Order Entry
  •  Difficulty On Exertion
  •  Department of Expenditure (India)
  •  Director of Education
  •  Designated Operational Entity
  •  Department Of Energy (US, federal department and national energy policy of the United States)
  •  Determination of Eligibility
  •  Department Of Ecology
  •  Danube-Oder-Elbe (water corridor)
  •  Dragons of Eisengard (gaming guild)
  •  Diario Oficial de Extremadura (Extremadura, Spain)
  •  Depends On Experience (job postings, job seekers, job posters and occupations, based on candidates’ qualifications)
  •  Date of Execution
  •  Diabetes Outpatient Education (Rhode Island)
  •  Data Origin Level – Toll Equipment Input
  •  Date of Entry
  •  Department of the Environment
  •  Design of Experiences
  •  Department of Electronics
  •  Departmental Operating Expense
  •  Database Object Editor
  •  Double Open End (filters)
  •  Department of Extension
  •  Diário Oficial do Estado (Portugese: Official State Gazette; Brazil)
  •  Date of Enrollment
  •  Dividends on Equity
  •  Dictionary of Old English
  •  Department of Enforcement (securities)
  •  Date of Effect
  •  Date Of Entitlement
  •  Director of Environment (various locations)
  •  Dyspnea On Exertion
  •  Duke of Edinburgh
  •  Dynamic Operating Environment
  •  Dependant on Experience (UK) (used by recruiting firms for salary surveys in the workplace depending on the lev/Britainel of experience)
  •  Dossier des Ouvrages Exécutés (French: Record of Works Executed; building construction)
  •  Date Of Enlistment (USAF)
  •  Design of Experiments
  •  Director of Engineering
  •  Disributed Object Everywhere
  •  Due-Out Exists
  •  Dank of England
  •  Department of Education (US)
  •  Dedicated Outbound Extension (Sprint)
  •  Diocese of El Obeid
  •  Diffractive Optical Elements
  •  Design Of Experiment
  •  Denominación Oficial Española (Spanish: Spanish Official Designation; pharmacology)
  •  Depending On Experience (jobs & classified ads)

What is the origin of the word doe?

According to Etymonline, the word doe comes from the Old English da, Old English dēon and do, from dajjōn and dajjanan. This  comes from the Proto-Indo-European root dhēy, and is a cognate to da, dae, te, då, deon, Danish daa, and delu. This word is related to fetus, fellatio, and filial.

What are synonyms for doe?

There are many different words that a person can use in place of the word doe. These are called synonyms, which are words and phrases that have the same definition as another given word or phrase. Synonyms are a great way to expand your English language vocabulary and avoid repeating yourself. This list of synonyms for the word doe is provided by Power Thesaurus

  •  animal
  •  ewe
  •  biddy
  •  energetics
  •  crystallography
  •  fallow deer
  •  chipmunk
  •  coney
  •  mare
  •  rabbit
  •  female
  •  roe deer
  •  cuniculus
  •  filly
  •  gnu
  •  jackrabbit
  •  heifer
  •  peahen
  •  eland
  •  she-bear
  •  greyhound
  •  race horse
  •  deped
  •  musk deer
  •  she-goat
  •  bitch
  •  leporide
  •  squirrel
  •  roebuck
  •  kid
  •  nanny
  •  doeling
  •  leveret
  •  brood mare
  •  mule deer
  •  slut
  •  hartebeest
  •  girl
  •  he-goat
  •  billy goat
  •  she
  •  goat
  •  billy
  •  mountain goat
  •  gyp
  •  ostrich
  •  camelopard
  •  she-lion
  •  dromedary
  •  act
  •  eagle
  •  nanny goat
  •  accomplish
  •  springbok
  •  deerlet
  •  ewe lamb
  •  guinea hen
  •  hackee
  •  camel bird
  •  kaama
  •  red deer
  •  wildebeest
  •  gazelle
  •  hen
  •  cow
  •  sow
  •  vixen
  •  elk
  •  female deer
  •  achieve
  •  moose
  •  capon
  •  hare
  •  hart
  •  caribou
  •  department of energy
  •  energy
  •  chickaree
  •  courser
  •  bunny
  •  hind
  •  tigress
  •  bunny rabbit
  •  buck
  •  cony
  •  cottontail
  •  fawn
  •  lapin
  •  chinchilla
  •  roe
  •  lioness
  •  deer
  •  calf
  •  energy department
  •  lagomorph
  •  jenny
  •  fallow-deer
  •  rodent
  •  stag

Overall, the term doe means a female of the fallow deer. This is also a slang word for though. 

Sources:

  1.  ​DOE – What does DOE stand for? | The Free Dictionary 
  2. Doe synonyms – 187 Words and Phrases for Doe | Power Thesaurus 
  3. Doe definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary 
  4. doe: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
  5. doe | Origin and meaning of doe | Online Etymology Dictionary