Is It 'Donut' or 'Doughnut'?

Mignon Fogarty is the founder of Quick and Dirty Tips and is known for her Grammar Girl website, podcast, and games.

In a tweet, Andrew Lowe asked, "Did @DunkinDonuts single-handedly foster the accepted alternative spelling of 'doughnut'?"

Andrew's theory has merit.

What’s the Trouble?

"Donut" is a simplified variant of "doughnut."

A doughnut is literally a nut (ball) of dough. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name was first reported by American author Washington Irving (using the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker) in 1809. The sweet treat he was describing resembled what today we’d call doughnut holes rather than the puffy rings we now call doughnuts.

The "donut" spelling appeared about 100 years later but did not immediately thrive. However, its use has grown steadily and significantly since Dunkin’ Donuts was founded in 1950.

What Should You Do?

Stick with "doughnut."

Here's an example:

A paradox, the doughnut hole. Empty space, once, but now they've learned to market even that. A minus quantity; nothing, rendered edible. I wondered if they might be used—metaphorically, of course—to demonstrate the existence of God. Does naming a sphere of nothingness transmute it into being? — Margaret Atwood in The Blind Assassin

This article was originally published by Mignon Fogarty on quickanddirtytips.com and shared here because we love her. She is also the author of the New York Times best-seller Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.