Dove

How to spell dove

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce dove

What does dove mean?

1. nounA small, plump bird of the pigeon family, often used as a symbol of peace.
2. verbA past tense of 'dive': to have plunged head first into water or downward through the air.

Dove in a sentence

• noun

  A white dove was released at the wedding ceremony.

• verb

  She dove into the pool to cool off after the run.

• noun

  The dove built its nest in the eaves of the barn.

• verb

  The swimmer dove from the high board without hesitation.

Where does dove come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The bird name comes from a Proto-Germanic word reconstructed as *dubon, which appears to be linked to the idea of a 'diving' or 'dipping' bird, perhaps from the way pigeons bob and dart in flight. In Old English it survived mainly inside compounds and personal names, and the freestanding form was reinforced by the closely related Old Norse 'dufa', so the word that reached modern English carries a strong Norse flavour. By the medieval period 'dove' settled on the gentler members of the pigeon family and gathered its enduring associations with peace, love, and the Holy Spirit. Quite separately, the verb form 'dove' (used as a past tense of 'dive') is a much later development, mostly American, formed by analogy with strong verbs like 'drive' and 'drove'; the older and still standard British past tense is 'dived'. The shared spelling is a quirk: the bird and the past-tense verb look identical on the page but are pronounced differently.

How the word is built

• dove (single root, from Proto-Germanic *dubon, a diving bird)