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Sometimes I've seen ド as a prefix that adds emphasis to words. So saying
someone is ドバカ is saying that they are much more stupid than just バカ.

I'm wondering what the origin of ド in this context is. Does it come from 度
【ど】("degree"), as in, "the degree of X is higher"?

Also, is it always negative? I usually see it attached to negative terms, but
I don't know if it's exclusively negative.

Lastly, is it impolite?
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2011-07-28T16:14:39.433
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2014-05-28T13:33:45.850
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question
word-choice etymology politeness
What are the origins of ド when used as emphasis, and is it always negative?
Don't know if it's always from the kanji 度 or not. However, of the few
examples I found, there was `ど真ん中` (straight down the middle), so there is at
least one situation where it's not negative.

And here's [the definition from
大辞泉](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/154704/m0u/):

> # ど
```

>     〘接頭〙名詞や形容詞に付く。
>     １ まさにそれに相当するものであることを強調する。「—真ん中」「—ぎつい」
>     ２ ののしり卑しめる意をより強く表す。「—けち」「—下手」
>  
```

So based on this, I would say that words themselves are not impolite, just
maybe _how_ you use it.

A common one I use is `度忘れする` (this one I know for sure uses 度) meaning "to
slip your mind" or "momentarily cannot recall". I don't see any way this in
itself could be impolite.
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2011-07-28T16:40:09.613
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In present Japanese, the usage is not limited to negative terms

> ど真ん中 'right in the middle', 'bingo!'  
>  ど根性 'strong guts'

but does not seem to be productive either (i.e., usage is limited). When it is
used with a negative term, that is surely impolite, but the words listed above
are not particularly impolite.

`ど` seems to have derived from the 18th century form `どう`, whose meaning is
not clear. There is another descendant form `どん`, which developed mainly in
the context of kabuki (歌舞伎), and seems to be used only for negative terms.

> どん尻  
>  どんケツ  
>  どん引き [Recent slang]

Here are some discussions on other sites:

  * <http://kotobakai.seesaa.net/article/8237957.html>
  * <http://d.hatena.ne.jp/nobita720/20110702>
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2011-07-28T16:44:49.773
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2011-07-28T19:23:14.280
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