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Dor·set¹

(dôrsĭt)

An early Native American culture flourishing in small coastal settlements in northern Greenland and the eastern Canadian Arctic south to Newfoundland from about 800 BC to AD 1000.

[After Cape Dorset, Baffin Island, site of excavations.]

Dor·set²

(dôrsĭt)

A domestic sheep of a breed having large horns and medium-length, fine-textured wool.

[After Dorset³.]

Dor·set³

(dôrsĭt)

A region of southwest England on the English Channel. Part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, it was used as the setting for many of Thomas Hardy's novels.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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