-dom

Etymology

From Middle English -dom, from Old English -dōm (“-dom: state, condition, power, authority, property, right, office, quality”, suffix), from Proto-West Germanic *-dōm, from Proto-Germanic *-dōmaz.

Cognate with Scots -dom (“-dom”), North Frisian -dom (“-dom”), West Frisian -dom (“-dom”), Dutch -dom (“-dom”), Low German -dom (“-dom”), German -tum (“-dom”), Danish -dom (“-dom”) -dømme (“-dom”), Swedish -dom (“-dom”) -döme (“-dom”), Norwegian -dom (“-dom”), Icelandic -dómur (“-dom”), Norwegian Bokmål -dømme, Norwegian Nynorsk -døme. Same as Old English dōm (“doom, judgment, sentence, condemnation, ordeal, judicial sentence, decree, ordinance, law, custom; justice, equity; direction, ruling, governing, command; might, power, supremacy, majesty, glory, magnificence, splendor, reputation, honor, praise, dignity, authority; state, condition”). No relation to English domain or dominion. More at doom.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /-dəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Suffix

-dom

1. Forming nouns denoting the condition or state of the root word.

   boredom, freedom, martyrdom, stardom

2. Forming nouns denoting the domain or jurisdiction of the root word.

   Christendom, fiefdom, kingdom, Saxondom

3. Forming nouns — usually nonce words — denoting the set of all examples of the suffixed word.

   catdom, dogdom, furrydom, gothdom, wingdom

   • 2011 March 19, Caitlin Moran, The Times:

     It is only the English language that has let the cabbage down – giving it, quite frankly, the ugliest name in all of veg-dom.

   • 1995, Isabel Fonseca, Bury Me Standing, Vintage, published 2007, page 74:

     there always seemed to be one outrageous beauty: an angel who would have been forced into indentured topmodeldom had she been found on a Paris bus; or a wavy-lipped, chisel-chinned, almond-eyed boy-warrior out of the Iliad, as beautiful as humans come.

4. (fandom slang) Forming nouns denoting the fandom of the suffixed word.

   Potterdom, stfdom

Anagrams

• MOD, MoD, ODM, mod, mod.

Etymology

From Old Danish -dom, from Old Norse -dómr.

Suffix

-dom

1. Indicates a condition, situation or period.
2. Indicates a religion, teaching or similar.

See also

• -skab
• -hed

References

• “-dom” in Den Danske Ordbog