Meaning and usage of ～ど／～ども


**What do the structures ～ど／～ども exactly mean? How are they used?**

I have seen these structures in this site:

<https://nihongonosensei.net/?p=7938>

but I don't understand very well the explanation, apart from the fact that
**they supposedly mean ～しても** , which can be translated differently depending
on the type of sentence it is used, and that they were used mostly in old
times.

On the other hand, looking at the examples:

（１） 押せど、押せど、新着メールなし。

（２） 待てど暮らせど連絡が来ない。

（３） 寝れども寝れども寝不足だ。

**It seems to me that ～ど／～ども do not convey any ～しても meaning (although, however
hard, etc.), but more like "doing an action again and again".** Then, I would
like to clear up the meaning and usage of ～ど／～ども.

Besides, **about the examples, if possible, could you please tell me what do
they exactly refer to? In which context would those sentences appear?** For
me, without further context, they don't seem to be ancient-flavoured sentences
from old writings and classical literature (古文). If ～ど／～ども don't make too much
sense in this kind of sentences, **could you please give me an example where
you have seen ～ど／～ども used?**




Meaning-wise, (せ)ど or (せ)ども is just "although" or "even though". The biggest
difference from (し)ても is that it's an archaic conjunctive particle that
basically belongs to the grammar of classical Japanese. It's no longer a word
actively used in modern Japanese.

You may see ど/ども in the following exceptional cases:

  * In _haiku_ , archaic documents, magic spells, oracles, speech of ancient deities, etc.
  * In fixed idiomatic expressions including [待てど暮らせど](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%BE%85%E3%81%A6%E3%81%A9%E6%9A%AE%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B%E3%81%A9) (see [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/42724/5010), too).
  * As part of the [～といえど(も) pattern](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/94667/5010).
  * As part of the ～ども～ども pattern, as in 寝れども寝れども, in which case the nuance of "again and again" or "like forever" is implied. (Note that the original ども by itself doesn't have such a meaning.)
  * As a parody of [this famous _waka_](https://tanka-textbook.com/hatarakedo-hatarakedo/), i.e., when a joke is intended. Your 押せど押せど may be an example of this.




Meaning-wise, (せ)ど or (せ)ども is just "although" or "even though". The biggest
difference from (し)ても is that it's an archaic conjunctive particle that
basically belongs to the grammar of classical Japanese. It's no longer a word
actively used in modern Japanese.

You may see ど/ども in the following exceptional cases:

  * In _haiku_ , archaic documents, magic spells, oracles, speech of ancient deities, etc.
  * In fixed idiomatic expressions including [待てど暮らせど](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%BE%85%E3%81%A6%E3%81%A9%E6%9A%AE%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B%E3%81%A9) (see [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/42724/5010), too).
  * As part of the [～といえど(も) pattern](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/94667/5010).
  * As part of the ～ども～ども pattern, as in 寝れども寝れども, in which case the nuance of "again and again" or "like forever" is implied. (Note that the original ども by itself doesn't have such a meaning.)
  * As a parody of [this famous _waka_](https://tanka-textbook.com/hatarakedo-hatarakedo/), i.e., when a joke is intended. Your 押せど押せど may be an example of this.

