overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dross.

Waste or impure matter.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/dɹɒs/Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation/dɹɔs/British, Southern, Standard/dɾɒs/Wales/dɾɔs/Scotland

  1. Waste or impure matter. Residue that forms as a scum on the surface of molten metal from oxidation.

    uncountable · usually

  2. Waste or impure matter. The impurities in metal.

    uncountable · usually

  3. Waste or impure matter. A waste product from working with metal.

    uncountable · usually

  4. Worthless or trivial matter.

    figuratively · uncountable · usually

  5. Residual raw opium left in an opium pipe which can be recycled for further sale or use.

    slang · uncountable · usually
Where this word comes from

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.

verb/dɹɒs/Northern-England, Received-Pronunciation/dɹɔs/British, Southern, Standard/dɾɒs/Wales/dɾɔs/Scotland

  1. To remove dross from.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

dross has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

dross studiodross workshello, dross

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

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.