dag

dag · noun, verb¹

1. Germanic · derived from
2. Middle English · inherited fromdagge
3. English todaydag

From Middle English dagge, of uncertain (probably Germanic) origin, cognate with Middle Dutch dag, dagge, dagh (modern Dutch dag, dagge). Compare French dague (“spiked end of a whipping rope”). The sense “dangling lock of wool, matted with dung” (originally from the dialect of Kent) is also termed daglock (derived from the “hanging end” sense of dag) or daggle-lock and some sources consider the sense a shortening of that longer word rather than a mere evolution of the “hanging end” sense.

dag · noun, verb²

1. Ancient GreekΔακός (Dakós)
2. LatinDāca?
3. Vulgar Latin*daca?
4. Old Occitandaga
5. Old Frenchdague
6. Middle English*dagge
7. English todaydag

From Old French dague (from Old Occitan daga, of uncertain origin, perhaps from Vulgar Latin *daca (“Dacian knife”), from the Roman province Dacia (roughly modern Romania); the ending is possibly the faintly pejorative -ard suffix, as in poignard (“dagger”)); cognate with dagger, which see for more. The verb (rare but attested from c. 1400) is likely influenced by back-formation from dagger.

dag · interjection³

N-less (or nonnasal) variant of dang, a euphemism for damn.

dag · noun⁴

Perhaps a back-formation from daggy, or, a specialised sense of British dialect dag, a daring feat amongst boys.

dag · noun, verb⁵

1. Old Norse · derived fromdag“drizzle, haze, mist, dew”
2. North Germanic · derived from
3. English todaydag

Of North Germanic origin, probably to Old Norse dag (“drizzle, haze, mist, dew”); compare Old Swedish dag, Swedish dagg (“dew”), vs Old Swedish dug (“drizzle”) Swedish dugg (“drizzle”). Doublet of dew.

dag · noun⁶

Initialism of directed acyclic graph.

dag · noun⁷

Clipping of dagwood.

Dag · noun⁸

Clipping of Dagwood.

DAG · noun⁹

Abbreviation.

Words from the same roots