dough

American  

[doh] / doʊ /

noun

• doughs
  plural

1. flour or meal combined with water, milk, etc., in a mass for baking into bread, cake, etc.; paste of bread.

2. any similar soft, pasty mass.

3. Slang. money.

---

dough British  

/ dəʊ /

noun

1. a thick mixture of flour or meal and water or milk, used for making bread, pastry, etc

2. any similar pasty mass

3. a slang word for money

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• doughlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• doughs
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of dough

before 1000; Middle English do ( u ) gh, do ( u ) h, dou ( e ), Old English dāg, dāh; cognate with Dutch deeg, Old Norse deig, Gothic daigs, German Teig

---

Explanation

Dough is a thick mixture of flour and other ingredients that can be kneaded, baked, and eaten. Bread dough needs to rise before you bake it in a hot oven. Many baked goods begin their lives as dough, including bread, rolls, and some cookies. Dough is stiff enough that you can shape it, pull pieces off of it, stretch it and knead it. Informally, dough can also mean "money." If your friend says, "I make so much dough waiting tables!" he probably means money, not cookie dough. The word comes from an Indo-European root that means "smear" or "knead."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

dough doughs

A flat piece of fried dough typically topped with sour cream, garlic and grated cheese, ordinary lángos is best sampled at the city’s market halls, for 1/100th the price of Stand’s tasting menu.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Constantly choosing restaurants that cost $300 a person is tone-deaf, but only if you have communicated that you are not comfortable spending that kind of dough on eating out.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

I have, it turns out, a thing for sausage encased in dough.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026

Kindell, who once made all his dough by hand – until an elbow tendon injury forced him to investigate using machines instead, is now working on his own version of a pizza-making robot.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

“He saw me rolling the dough and wanted to help. I’ve learned all about cookiecutter sharks this morning.”

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

You also need time: Almost all doughs in the book require at least an overnight fermentation to improve their flavor, rise and handling capability.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Psst, the pizzeria does offer some walk-in orders when doors open at 4 p.m., but management discourages customers from lining up since there usually aren’t that many surplus doughs available.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2023

If you have storage space, you can make most cookie doughs and refrigerate or even freeze them.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 5, 2022

The highly rated Artisan Series 5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer in Empire Red from KitchenAid can produce nine dozen cookies in a single take, as well as cakes, doughs and other torments for the Keto-obsessed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2022

The proportion of these ingredients that is usually effective in batters and doughs for hot breads is 1 level teaspoonful of soda to 1 pint of sour milk.

From Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume 1: Essentials of Cookery; Cereals; Bread; Hot Breads by Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• bread
• cabbage
• lettuce

---