Dew

How to spell dew

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce dew

What does dew mean?

1. nounTiny drops of water that condense on cool outdoor surfaces, especially grass, during the night.

Dew in a sentence

• The morning dew soaked through her canvas shoes as she crossed the lawn.

• By sunrise a film of dew clung to every blade of grass in the field.

Where does dew come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Dew comes straight from the Old English noun deaw, which named the fine moisture that settles on grass and other surfaces during a cool night. It belongs to a family of Germanic words, with close cousins such as Dutch dauw and German Tau, all tracing back to a Proto-Germanic root meaning roughly 'to flow' or 'moisten'. The word has stayed remarkably stable for well over a thousand years, keeping its short, simple shape. The spelling trap is purely that it sounds identical to 'due' and 'do', so the ear gives no help; you simply have to remember that the natural water on the morning grass is spelled d-e-w. Compounds like 'dewdrop' and the plant name 'mildew' (literally 'honey dew') preserve the same ancient root.

How the word is built

• dew (single root from Old English deaw: moisture that forms overnight); no prefix or suffix

Words that sound like dew

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• do: To perform, carry out, or complete an action or task.