doormat

See also: door-mat

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰwer-der.

Proto-Germanic *durz

Proto-West Germanic *dur

Old English duru

Middle English dore

English door

Old English meatte

Middle English matte

English mat

English doormat

From door + mat.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔːˌmæt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔɹˌmæt/

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈdoːˌmæt/

Noun

doormat (plural doormats)

1. A coarse mat at the entrance to a house, upon which one wipes one's shoes.

   Wipe your shoes on the doormat before you start plodding around in the house.

   • 1942 September and October, “Notes and News: The Stanmore Branch”, in Railway Magazine, page 311:

     Mr. Simpson adds that the station at Stanmore appears practically unchanged from the time of its opening, even to the L.N.W.R. rubber doormat, which "shows no signs of wearing out."

   • 2022, Candice Carty-Williams, People Person, Trapeze, pages 257–258:

     Dimple glanced at an expensive-looking doormat with the words ‘LOSE THE SHOES’ woven into it and wondered why anyone would bother spending so much money on something people were going to wipe their feet on.

2. (figuratively, derogatory) Someone who habitually yields to others' demands or mistreatment, failing to assert their own rights or interests.

   Synonyms: bootlicker, simp

   He's such a doormat, he lets everyone walk all over him.

   • 2022 March 31, Alexis Soloski, “Why the Sudden Urge to Reconsider Famous Women?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 1 October 2025:

     If you flipped through certain magazines at this time you could be forgiven for thinking that there was no right way to be a woman, only wrong ones — bimbo or frump, slut or prude, shrew or doormat.

Derived terms

• doormat beard
• doormatish

Translations

coarse mat that appears at the entrance to a house

• Azerbaijani: ayaqaltı
• Belarusian: дыванок m (dyvanók), каберац m (kabjerac), палавік m (palavik)
• Bengali: পাপোষ (papōś)
• Bulgarian: изтривалка (bg) f (iztrivalka)
• Catalan: estoreta f, fregapeus (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 門墊 / 门垫 (zh) (méndiàn), 門口地墊 / 门口地垫 (ménkǒu dìdiàn), 擦腳墊 / 擦脚垫 (cājiǎodiàn)

• Czech: rohožka (cs) f
• Danish: dørmåtte (da) c
• Dutch: deurmat (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: mato (eo)
• Faroese: duramotta f
• Finnish: ovimatto (fi), kynnysmatto (fi)
• French: paillasson (fr) m, essuie-pieds (fr) m
• German: Fußmatte (de) f, Fußabstreifer (de) m, Fußabtreter (de) m
• Greek: πατάκι (el) n (patáki)
• Gujarati: પગલૂછણિયું n (paglūchṇiyũ)
• Hebrew: אסקופה נדרסת, אסקופה נדרסת f
• Hindi: पायदान m (pāydān)
• Hungarian: lábtörlő (hu)
• Ido: tapiseto (io)
• Italian: zerbino (it) m, stuoino m, nettapiedi m, stoino m
• Japanese: ドアマット (doamatto), 靴拭き (くつふき, kutsufuki), マット (ja) (matto)
• Macedonian: подметка f (podmetka), бришалка f (brišalka)
• Malayalam: ചവുട്ടി (cavuṭṭi)
• Marathi: पायपुसणे n (pāypusṇe)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dørmatte m or f

  Nynorsk: dørmatte f

• Polish: wycieraczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: capacho (pt) m
• Romanian: preș (ro) n
• Russian: полови́к (ru) m (polovík) (для вытира́ния о́буви), ко́врик (ru) m (kóvrik), цино́вка (ru) f (cinóvka) (esp. made of straw)
• Spanish: felpudo (es) m
• Swedish: dörrmatta (sv) c
• Tagalog: kuskusan ng paa
• Tamil: கால்மிதி (ta) (kālmiti)
• Thai: พรมเช็ดเท้า
• Turkish: paspas (tr)

someone that is over-submissive to other's wishes

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 觀音兵 / 观音兵 (gun¹ jam¹ bing¹)

  Mandarin: 舔狗 (tiǎngǒu)

• Danish: dørmåtte (da) c
• Dutch: voetveeg (nl) m or f, buklaaf
• Finnish: kynnysmatto (fi)
• French: carpette (fr) f, paillasson (fr) m
• German: Fußabtreter (de) m
• Hebrew: אַסְקֻפָּה נִדְרֶסֶת (he) f (asqupá nidréset)
• Hungarian: papucs (hu), lábtörlő (hu)
• Italian: zerbino (it) m
• Korean: 호구(虎口) (ko) (hogu)
• Macedonian: мивка f (mivka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: dørmatte m or f

  Nynorsk: dørmatte f

• Polish: pantofel (pl) m
• Portuguese: capacho (pt) m
• Russian: тря́пка (ru) m (trjápka), терпила (ru) f (terpila)
• Swedish: dörrmatta (sv) c
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: พรมเช็ดเท้า

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} שפשפת (shafshefet)