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素人 means beginner. ド素人 means total beginner.

ド means "very", "total". Any idea where does this word come from etymologically? It is sometimes also written in hiragana.

Are there other current expressions that use ド in a similar way?

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ど突く, ドスケベ, どあほ, ドM, ドS, どえらい, どぶす, ど近眼... sure there are many more

Please note that some of these are quite rude and offensive. Please use with caution.

Not sure about the etymology, but I have the impression that they tend to be used more in Kansai-ben.

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    あはは。悪い言葉ばっかりね～　あ、あたし関西人
    – user1016
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 6:16
  • I share the same impression too! But unless non-関西人 can confirm that they seldom use ど…
    – syockit
    Commented Jan 31, 2012 at 23:17
  • So we don't really know where it comes from? I just saw this in Harry Potter 2, which doesn't seem to have a rude/offensive tone implied: "ダンブルドアが次の言葉を話し出す前に、バーンとどえらい音をたてて扉が勢いよく開き、ハグリッドが飛び込んできた。"
    – comeauch
    Commented May 19, 2015 at 10:10
  • @comeauch: dainichi wrote than "some" are rude/offensive. Some others are not, for instance ど真ん中.
    – Nicolas Raoul
    Commented Jul 18, 2019 at 8:41
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どぎつい, ど真ん中 and ド変態{へんたい} come to mind as similar expressions.

I don't know where this use of ド came from. Maybe from the phrase 度{ど}が過ぎる.

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  • OMG ド変態！I've never heard that word but it's like a total pervert? Lol
    – user1016
    Commented Jan 25, 2012 at 18:31
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    どん百姓 is another one.
    – Bathrobe
    Commented Feb 1, 2012 at 22:15
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This is not "etymology" per se, but the Tokyo dialect has borrowed "ど" from Kansai-ben. I don't have a solid reference to back up this claim, but I remember reading that in books written by scholars. Also there is a Wikipedia entry about Kansai-ben (cited below) and its vocabulary section includes this very "ど".

"ど" is still informal in the Tokyo dialect and tends to be avoided in formal speech and writing in my experience (living in the Tokyo area for a long time). Some traditionalists disdain it as vulgar because there are good traditional alternatives. For example, Tokyoites used to say まん真ん中 instead of ど真ん中 (dead center, right in the middle, etc.) but the latter is becoming more and more common now. To Tokyoites' ear today, まん真ん中 sounds perfectly fine and a bit more elegant than ど真ん中, but it lacks the forcefulness and vividness of the latter. You can say the same for other words qualified by "ど".

近畿方言 from Wikipedia

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