NYT Dictionary

DOVE

/doʊv/
NounVerbDOVEdove · 1 syllableGrade 9

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026

Meaning

A pigeon, especially one smaller in size and white-colored; a bird (often arbitrarily called either a pigeon or a dove or both) of more than three hundred species of the family Columbidae.

Etymology

Origin: Old English

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-der.? Proto-Germanic *dūbaną? Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ Proto-West Germanic *dūbā Old English *dūfe Middle English douve English dove From Middle English douve, dove, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-West Germanic *dūbā, from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove, pigeon”). Cognate with Scots doo, dow, Saterland Frisian Duuwe, West Frisian do, Dutch duif, Afrikaans duif, Sranan Tongo doifi, German Taube, German Low German Duuv, Dutch Low Saxon duve, doeve, Danish due, Faroese dúgva, Icelandic dúfa, Norwegian Bokmål due, Norwegian Nynorsk due, Swedish duva, Yiddish טויב (toyb), Gothic *𐌳𐌿𐌱𐍉 (*dubō).

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

culverdovepeace dovepeacenikcolumbasquabdiveplungeplunkangel

Antonyms

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 8 recorded puzzles:

Join the Spelling Bee Community

Get solving strategies, rare word lists, and puzzle tips in your inbox every week.