Editing Doughnut (section)

==Etymology==
{{wiktionary|doughnut|donut}}

==="Dough nut"===
One of the earliest known literary usages of the term dates to an 1808 short story<ref>Originals, Selections, &C. for the Times. Sketches and Views-No. V; The Times, page [29], vol. I, iss. 8; 30 January 1808; Boston, Massachusetts.</ref> describing a spread of "fire-cakes and dough-nuts". [[Washington Irving]] described "dough-nuts", in his 1809 ''History of New York, as'' "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called dough-nuts, or'' [[oliebollen|olykoeks]]''."<ref>{{OEtymD|doughnut}}</ref> These "nuts" of fried dough might now be called [[doughnut holes]]. The word ''nut'' is here used in the earlier sense of "small rounded cake or cookie", also seen in [[ginger nut]].<ref>[https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?id=D5370800 ''doughnut''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224081804/https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?id=D5370800 |date=24 December 2019 }} in the American Heritage Dictionary</ref> ''Doughnut'' is the traditional spelling and still dominates even in the United States<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/donut|title=Meaning of donut|website=InfoPlease|access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=donut|title=The American Heritage Dictionary entry: donut|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company|website=www.ahdictionary.com|access-date=21 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221133838/https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=donut|archive-date=21 December 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/donut|title=Definition of DONUT|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=21 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220161642/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/donut|archive-date=20 December 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> though ''donut'' is often used.<ref>Norbert Schmitt and Richard Marsden (2006) ''Why is English like that?: historical answers to hard ELT questions'', University of Michigan Press, {{ISBN|0472031341}}, p. 166: "...&nbsp;and British English in the spelling of individual words include ax/axe (though the British form is also frequently used in America), check/ cheque (a money order), donut/doughnut, draft/draught (an air current), mold/mould,{{nbsp}}..."</ref><ref>Richard Ellis (2003) ''Communication skills: stepladders to success for the professional'', Intellect Books, {{ISBN|1841500879}}, p. 113 "...&nbsp;US spelling is influencing users to spell programme as program, center for centre and donut for doughnut."</ref> At present, ''doughnut'' and the shortened form ''donut'' are both pervasive in American English.<ref>Janet Sue Terry (2005) ''A Rich, Deliciously Satisfying Collection of Breakfast Recipes'', Just My Best Publishing Company, {{ISBN|1932586431}}, p. 233 "At present, "donut" and "doughnut" are both pervasive in American English, but only "doughnut" is listed in Thorndike and Lorge's (1942) ''The Teacher's Word Book of 30,000 Words.'' There are sparse instances of the "donut" spelling variation prior to WWII. For instance, it is mentioned in an LA Times article dated August 10, 1929. There, Bailey Millard complains about the decline of spelling, and that he "can't swallow the 'wel-dun donut' nor the everso'gud bred'." "</ref>

==="Donut"===
The first known printed use of ''donut'' was in ''Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa'' by [[George Wilbur Peck|George W. Peck]], published in 1900, in which a character is quoted as saying, "Pa said he guessed he hadn't got much appetite, and he would just drink a cup of coffee and eat a donut."<ref name=PecksBadBoy>{{cite book|author=George Wilbur Peck|title=Peck's bad boy and his pa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIwZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA107|year=1900|publisher=Stanton and Van Vliet|pages=107–}}</ref> According to author John T. Edge the alternative spelling "donut" was invented in the 1920s when the New York–based Display Doughnut Machine Corporation abbreviated the word to make it more pronounceable by the foreigners they hoped would buy their automated doughnut making equipment.<ref>John T. Edge (2006) ''Donuts: an American passion'', Penguin Group US, {{ISBN|1440628645}}: "Donuts" came to the fore in the 1920s, when the New York-based Doughnut Machine Corporation set its eyes upon foreign markets. "In order to obviate difficulty in pronouncing 'doughnuts' in foreign languages," a press release announced .."</ref> The donut spelling also showed up in a ''Los Angeles Times'' article dated August 10, 1929 in which Bailey Millard jokingly complains about the decline of spelling, and that he "can't swallow the 'wel-dun donut' nor the ever so 'gud bred'".

The interchangeability of the two spellings can be found in a series of "National Donut Week" articles in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that covered the 1939 World's Fair. In four articles beginning 9 October, two mention the ''donut'' spelling. [[Dunkin' Donuts]], which was so-named in 1950, following its 1948 founding under the name Open Kettle (Quincy, Massachusetts), is the oldest surviving company to use the ''donut'' variation; other chains, such as the defunct Mayflower Doughnut Corporation (1931), did not use that spelling.<ref>Sally L. Steinberg [http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!140493!0 ''Collection of Doughnut Ephemera, 1920s–1987'']: "In 1931, the company opened the first Mayflower doughnut shop in New York City; ultimately, 18 shops were opened across the country—the first retail doughnut{{nbsp}}..." [NOTE: Smithsonian and several 1950s court cases call it "Mayflower Doughnut Corporation" prior to World War II].</ref> According to the [[Oxford Dictionaries (website)|Oxford Dictionaries]] while "doughnut" is used internationally, the spelling "donut" is American,<ref>
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110901064007/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/doughnut doughnut]. Oxford Dictionaries Online (World English) "The beginning of doughnut is spelled dough- (the spelling donut is American)."</ref> with [[Krispy Kreme]] being a notable exception.<ref>https://finance.yahoo.com/news/dunkin-donuts-convinced-america-spell-145804674.html</ref> The spelling "donut" remained rare until the 1950s, and has since grown significantly in popularity.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=donut%2Cdoughnut&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3 donut, doughnut]", Google Ngram viewer</ref>