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“Doughnut” probably combines “dough” with “nut” in the older sense of a small rounded lump—not a reference to the hole. The word is recorded in American English by 1809, while a reference to doughnut holes appears later, around 1861. The Dutch fried cake called olykoek is closely associated with the pastry’s early history, but the exact route from that Dutch name to the English word is uncertain. The familiar story that Hanson Gregory invented the ring is a separate claim, and not settled history.
Why is it called a doughnut?
The most straightforward explanation is that the name describes a lump of dough. Etymonline dates doughnut to 1809 in American English and analyzes it as dough plus nut, with nut probably meaning a small, rounded lump. On this account, the word does not refer to the pastry’s central hole. These are dates reported by Etymonline, not proof that no earlier use could ever be found. Etymonline’s doughnut entry
The early word appears alongside a Dutch-associated food name. In an 1809 passage, Washington Irving described fried balls of sweetened dough as “dough nuts, or oly koeks.” That pairing is evidence that the names were connected in early American usage; by itself, it does not prove that doughnut was directly borrowed from Dutch. Smithsonian’s account of doughnut history; scholarly volume hosted by the Library of Congress
What does the Dutch connection tell us?
Olykoek (also rendered olikoek) is glossed as “oil cake.” A scholarly treatment of the pastry’s history describes olycokes as cakes fried in lard, including doughnuts and crullers, and notes that the English word may originate from the Dutch term while treating that derivation as uncertain. The careful distinction is that Dutch fried cakes are part of the food’s history, but the precise derivation of the English name is not established.
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So it is reasonable to say that doughnuts have a meaningful Dutch food-history connection. It is too strong to claim that the English word’s Dutch origin is proven—or that every fried dough tradition began in the Netherlands. Library of Congress-hosted scholarly volume
Did the hole give the doughnut its name?
No. The reported 1809 date for doughnut predates the reported first mention of holes in doughnuts, around 1861. That gap does not establish exactly when cooks began making ring-shaped pastries, but it does undermine the idea that the word was coined to name the hole. In the proposed etymology, nut means a small lump, not an empty center. Etymonline
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Who invented the ring-shaped doughnut?
Hanson Gregory is often credited with introducing the hole, based on his own later account that he cut the center from a doughnut. Smithsonian recounts his claim, including the story that he used the top of a pepper box. But a familiar account is not the same as conclusive proof: historians have not settled who first made the ring shape or when.
One practical explanation is that removing the center helped thick dough cook more evenly. Historian Michael Krondl has suggested that rationale while explicitly acknowledging it cannot be proved. Anthropologist Paul R. Mullins, asked how the doughnut got its hole, put the uncertainty plainly: “Nobody has a good answer.” The cooking explanation is plausible, not a verified origin story. Smithsonian; HISTORY; TIME’s interview with Paul R. Mullins
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When did “donut” become a spelling?
Donut is a later American spelling, not evidence of a different food or a different origin for the name. Etymonline records it as an alternate US spelling by 1870 and describes it as common in bakery names around 1920. Those are dates reported by that reference, rather than measurements of how often people used each spelling. Etymonline
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The name and the hole are different historical questions
| Question | What the evidence indicates |
|---|---|
| Where did the word doughnut come from? | It is reported in American English by 1809 and is commonly explained as dough plus nut, meaning a small rounded lump. Its early pairing with “oly koeks” points to a Dutch food connection, but direct borrowing is uncertain. Etymonline; Library of Congress-hosted scholarly volume |
| Who made the first ring doughnut? | Gregory’s later claim is widely repeated, and even cooking is a plausible reason for making a hole. Neither establishes a definitive inventor. HISTORY; TIME |
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