Doormat

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdɔːˌmæt/

Definitions

1. A piece of material placed at a door for cleaning the soles of shoes ; a person who is easily controlled or exploited by others
2. A floor covering near an entrance used to remove dirt from footwear ; someone who allows others to treat them with disrespect repeatedly
3. An item placed at a doorway to wipe feet and keep interiors clean ; an individual who passively accepts unfair treatment from others

Etymology: A doormat is about as plain a compound as English offers: "door" joined to "mat," with no hidden twist in the making. The door part descends from Old English "duru," which traces back through Proto-Germanic "durzą" to a Proto-Indo-European root, while "mat" comes from Old English "meatte," a word for a woven or plaited floor covering. Both elements were already common, long-established words, so the compound needed no special coinage. The most interesting part of the story is the phrase's later use. The literal object is a mat laid at a threshold so that visitors can scrape or wipe their shoes before stepping inside. Because the mat sits at the very point of entry, it became a figure for anyone who lets others walk over them, and that sense of a person treated as a doormat is the one most readers now meet first. The compound itself stayed firmly concrete, and the figurative use grew out of that physical position at the threshold.

Synonyms: mat, rug, welcome mat