-dom
Etymology

From Middle English -dom, from Old English -dōm, from Proto-West Germanic *-dōm, from Proto-Germanic *-dōmaz.

Cognate with Scots -dom, Northern Frisian -dom, Western Frisian -dom, Dutch -dom, Low German -dom, German -tum, Danish -dom -dømme, Swedish -dom -döme, Norwegian -dom, Icelandic -dómur, Norwegian Bokmål -dømme, Norwegian Nynorsk -døme. Same as Old English dōm. No relation to English domain or dominion. More at doom.

Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) IPA: /-dəm/
Suffix
  1. Forming nouns denoting the condition or state of the suffixed word.
    boredom, freedom, martyrdom, stardom
    • 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.
  2. Forming nouns denoting the domain or jurisdiction of the suffixed 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
  4. (fandom slang) Forming nouns denoting the fandom of the suffixed word.
    Potterdom, stfdom



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