ド – A ! with a Slightly Insulting Nuance

The following panel is from 江戸前(えどまえ)エルフ, a manga that tells the story of an Elf summoned from an 異世界(いせかい) (isekai—another world) by the one and only Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Thanks to her Elvish longevity, she still resides in present-day Tokyo, making her home in a particular shrine. This manga is full of fun Edo period trivia which makes it fun. Of course, what's really fun is she's a 引(ひ)きこもりオタク (a shut-in otaku) who prefers the comfort of her room over the outside world.

In this scene, we're introduced to another elf who, unlike our shut-in otaku protagonist, she is very outward but grapples with a gambling addiction. She squandered most of her travel money on lottery tickets, but never fear. She has devised a scheme to rapidly recoup the cash she lost.

Use the vocabulary list below to try reading through it.

もうすぐ東京(とうきょう)競馬場(けいばじょう)でドでかいレースがあるんですの！！

残(のこ)ったこのカネ１００(ひゃく)倍(ばい)にしてやりましてよ！！！

Were you able to follow? Use the above vocabulary to try your hand at translating and then see our translation below.

About ドでかい

You may know that "でかい" is a slang term that means "huge." Although it originally carried a somewhat crude slangy connotation, it has since become more accepted in standard Japanese.

But do you know what the ド in this word means?

So, What is ド?!

The prefix "ド" in "ドでかい" is commonly used in colloquial Japanese. It has two primary functions:

• Emphasis: It intensifies the meaning of the adjective it precedes
• Derision: It often adds a negative nuance of making fun of someone or something

Origin

It seems no one knows where the ド came from but it has been in use since the Edo period. That means it’s as old as the elves in the manga.

Two possible origins are:

• It may be from 「度(ど)」 as in 程度(ていど) (degree or amount) since 「度(ど)」 can be pronounced ド.
• Or it could have come from a shortening of 「どう」 (how).

At any rate, it is often written in katakana, but can also be written in hiragana.

Returning to ドでかい, it isn't just "huge" but the ド makes it "massive," "gigantic," or "gigantically huge".

In other words, ド gives it an added emphasis that goes beyond the base adjective.

But not just that. In addition to emphasizing, it often carries a bit of negativity, as if someone is making fun of someone. Often, but not always.

Here are a few words that commonly are used with ド. Notice how most of these could easily be used for a negative putdown:

Common ド words

ド田舎(いなか)

very rural; deep in the countryside

ド根性(こんじょう)

extreme perseverance; guts

ド真(ま)ん中(なか)

dead center; right in the middle

ド迫力(はくりょく)

overwhelming force; powerful presence

ド肝(ぎも)（を抜(ぬ)く）

to be utterly astonished; to scare the living daylights out of (someone)

ド演歌(えんか)

 extremely enka; very much in the style of traditional Japanese ballads

ド近眼(きんがん)

extremely nearsighted

ドあほ

 total idiot; complete fool

ド素人(しろうと)

complete amateur; total novice

どけち

extreme miser; tightwad

ど下手(へた)

extremely poor at; terribly unskilled

ドスケベ

extremely lewd; highly perverted

ドS

extreme sadist

ドM

extreme masochist

ドブス

extremely ugly (woman)

ド貧民(ひんみん)

extremely poor people; the destitute

ド貧乏(びんぼう)

dirt poor; extremely impoverished

ドえらい

extremely great; significant

ドぎつい

extremely gaudy; loud

ドでかい

huge; enormous

ドあつかましい

extremely cheeky; brazen

ド派手(はで)

very flashy; gaudy

ドストライク

right up one's alley; hitting right on the mark

As you can see, only a handful of these words have a positive connotation. ド was originally and is primarily used negatively.

Now, go out into the world (or at least the world-wide-web) and see if you can see or hear examples of ド!