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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

daw.

A western jackdaw, Coloeus monedula, a passerine bird in the crow family (Corvidae), more commonly called jackdaw.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/dɔː/UK/dɑː/US
  1. A western jackdaw, Coloeus monedula, a passerine bird in the crow family (Corvidae), more commonly called jackdaw.

  2. An idiot, a simpleton; fool.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English dawe, from Old English *dāwe, from Proto-West Germanic *dāhwā. Cognate with German Dahle, Dohle, dialectal Tach.

verb/dɔː/UK/dɑː/US
  1. To dawn.

  2. To wake (someone) up.

    obsolete
  3. To daunt; to terrify.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English dawen, from Old English dagian (“to dawn”), from Proto-West Germanic *dagēn, from Proto-Germanic *dagāną (“to become day, dawn”), from *dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). More at day, dawn.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.