Doe
/doʊ/noun
An adult female deer.
Did you know?In Old English, the word was specifically used for a female deer, and its long history shows how some of the oldest everyday animal words stay almost unchanged for over a thousand years.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dʰeu-
“to run, rush”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*dauhō
“female deer”
Old English
OE
dā
“female deer”
Middle English
ME
do
“female deer”
Modern English
English
doe
“adult female deer”