dew

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰew- (“to run, flow”). Cognate with West Frisian dau, North Frisian dauw (“dew”), Dutch dauw (“dew”), Low German Dau, German Tau (“dew”), Danish dug (“dew”), Swedish dagg (“dew”), Icelandic dögg (“dew”) and Faroese døgg (“dew”), Ancient Greek θέω (théō, “run”, v), Persian دویدن (davidan, “run”, v), Albanian dejë (“spot where the snow thaws”), Sanskrit धावति (dhāvati, “run, flow, move”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /djuː/, IPA: /dʒuː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Dew on a spider web

• Homophones: due, do, doo (US, some dialects)

Noun

dew (countable and uncountable; plural dews)

1. (uncountable) moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning, resulting in drops.
2. (countable, but see usage notes) an instance of a such moisture settling on plants, etc.

   There was a heavy dew this morning.

3. (uncountable) Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
4. (figuratively) Anything that falls lightly and in a refreshing manner.
   • Shakespeare

     The golden dew of sleep.

5. An emblem of morning, or fresh vigour.
   • Longfellow

     The dew of his youth.

Usage notes

• Although the countable sense is still used, the plural form is now archaic or poetic only.

Synonyms

• (moisture settling on plants): rore (obsolete)

Translations

moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc

• Arabic: ندى (ar) (nada) m, طل (ar) (ṭall) m, سقيط (ar) (saqīṭ) m
• Armenian: ցող (hy) (c’oġ)
• Aromanian: aroauã (rup)
• Azeri: şeh (az)
• Bashkir: ысыҡ (ïsïq)
• Bau Bidayuh: jumieh
• Belarusian: раса (be) (rasá) f
• Bengali: শিশির (bn) (shishir)
• Bulgarian: роса (bg) (rosá) f
• Burmese: ဆီးနှင်း (my) (hci:hnang:)
• Catalan: rosada (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 露水 (cmn) (lùshuǐ), 露 (cmn) (lù)

• Czech: rosa (cs) f
• Danish: dug (da) c
• Dutch: dauw (nl) m
• Esperanto: roso (eo)
• Estonian: kaste (et)
• Faroese: døgg (fo) f
• Finnish: kaste (fi)
• French: rosée (fr) f
• Friulian: rosade f
• Georgian: ნამი (ka) (nami)
• German: Tau (de) m
• Greek: πάχνη (el) (páchni) f, δροσιά (el) (drosiá) f, δρόσος (el) (drósos) f
• Gujarati: ઝાકળ (jhākala) f
• Hebrew: טל (he) (t'al) m
• Hindi: ओस (hi) (os) f, शबनम (hi) (šabnam) f, नम (hi) (nam) f
• Hungarian: harmat (hu)
• Icelandic: dögg (is) f
• Indonesian: embun (id)
• Italian: rugiada (it)
• Japanese: 露 (ja) (つゆ, tsuyu)
• Kazakh: шық (kk) (şıq)
• Korean: 이슬 (ko) (iseul)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: şevnem, şewnem, şebnem

  Sorani: شه‌ونم (ku)

• Kyrgyz: шүүдүрүм (ky) (şüüdürüm)
• Lao: ນ້ຳຄ້າງ (lo) (nâm kʰâːŋ)

• Latgalian: rosa
• Latin: ros (la)
• Latvian: rasa (lv) f
• Lithuanian: rasa (lt) f
• Macedonian: роса (mk) (rósa) f
• Malagasy: ando (mg)
• Malay: embun (ms)
• Marathi: दव (mr) (dava) n
• Mongolian: шүүдэр (mn) (šüüder)
• Occitan: rosada (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic: роса (rosa) f
• Old Norse: dǫgg f
• Persian: ژاله (fa) (žâle), شبنم (fa) (šabnam), نم (fa) (nam), سقیط (fa) (saqit), افشک (fa) (afšak), افشنگ (fa) (afšang), ارکاک (fa) (erkâk), بژم (fa) (bažm), پسگک (fa) (pasagak), پشتک (fa) (paštak), شهنگانه (fa) (šahangâne)
• Polish: rosa (pl) f
• Portuguese: orvalho (pt) m, riço (pt) m
• Romanian: rouă (ro)
• Romansch: rugada (rm) f
• Russian: роса (ru) (rosá) f
• Sanskrit: अवश्याय (sa) (avaśyāya) n, दव (sa) (dava) n
• Sardinian: lentore (sc), saghina (sc), sanenu (sc)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ро̀са (sh) f

  Roman: ròsa (sh) f

• Slovak: rosa (sk) f
• Slovene: rosa (sl) f
• Spanish: rocío (es), sereno (es) m
• Swedish: dagg (sv) c
• Tajik: жола (tg) (žola)
• Tatar: чык (tt) (çıq)
• Thai: น้ำค้าง (th) (nam khaang)
• Turkish: şebnem (tr), çiy (tr), çiğ (tr), kırağı (tr), jale (tr)
• Turkmen: çyg (tk)
• Ukrainian: роса (uk) (rosá) f
• Urdu: اوس (ur) (os) f, شبنم (ur) (šabnam) f, نم (ur) (nam) f, ژالہ (ur) (žāla) m
• Uzbek: shabnam (uz)
• Vietnamese: sương (vi)
• Welsh: gwlith (cy)

Verb

dew (third-person singular simple present dews, present participle dewing, simple past and past participle dewed)

1. To wet with, or as if with, dew; to moisten.

Related terms

• dew point

Translations

moisten

• Bulgarian: оросявам (bg) (orosjavam)

Anagrams

• wed, Wed, we'd, Wed.

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Catalan

Etymology

From adéu.

Interjection

dew

1. (Internet slang) bye

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Cornish

Cornish cardinal numbers

<  1	2	3  >
Cardinal : dew

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *dwau, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Numeral

dew

1. (cardinal) two

See also

• (cardinal number): Previous: onan. Next: tri