different between excellence vs douth

English

Etymology

From Old French excellence, from Latin excellentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ks?l?ns/

Noun

excellence (usually uncountable, plural excellences)

1. The quality of being excellent; brilliance
2. Something in which one excels.
3. An excellent or valuable quality; something at which any someone excels; a virtue.

Synonyms

• superiority
• pre-eminence
• perfection
• worth
• goodness
• purity
• greatness

Translations

See also

• par excellence

References

• excellence at OneLook Dictionary Search
• excellence in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• excellence in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k.s?.l??s/

Noun

excellence f (plural excellences)

1. Excellence.
2. Excellency (term of address).

Derived terms

Further reading

• “excellence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: douth, IPA^(key): /da??/
• Rhymes: -a??

Etymology 1

From Middle English douth, douthe, duweðe (“body of retainers, people, might, dignity, worth”), from Old English duguþ (“manhood, host, multitude, troops”), from Proto-Germanic *dugunþ? (“power, competency, notefulness, virtue”), from *dugan? (“to be useful”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?ewg?- (“to be ready, be sufficient”). Cognate with North Frisian døgd, døged (“ability, good deed”), Dutch deugd (“virtue”), German Tugend (“virtue”), Swedish dygd (“virtue”), Icelandic dygð, dyggð (“virtue”). Related to dow, doughty.

Noun

douth (usually uncountable, plural douths)

1. (obsolete) Virtue; excellence; atheldom; nobility; power; riches.
2. (obsolete) A group of people, especially an army or retinue.
3. (dialectal) Reliability; ease; security; shelter.

   There's no^[sic] much douth in a wire fence.

Adjective

douth (comparative more douth, superlative most douth)

1. (dialectal) Snug; comfortable; in easy circumstances.

Etymology 2

Noun

douth (plural douths)

1. Alternative form of dought

Middle English

Alternative forms

• douthe, duthe, douþe
• (Early ME) dugeð, duweðe, du?eðe, do?eðe, du?eþe, duheðe, duhþe, du?d

Etymology

From Old English duguþ, from Proto-Germanic *dugunþ?.

Pronunciation

• (Early ME) IPA^(key): /?du???/
• IPA^(key): /du??/

Noun

douth (uncountable)

1. A group, band, or company of people:
   1. The personal military force of a ruler or potentate.
   2. Any group of armed people; an army or troop.
2. (rare) Potency, might, worth.
3. (rare) An individual person.
4. (rare) Something beneficial; a boon.
5. (rare) The state of being mature.

Related terms

• doughty

Descendants

• English: douth
• Scots: duthe, douth

References

• “douth, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-05.