The Greek noun dotes means a giver — one who gives freely. It appears in 2 Corinthians 9:7 in a famous description of the kind of giver God loves.
Dotes appears in the statement: 'God loves a cheerful giver' (2 Corinthians 9:7). The Greek hilaron doten — the cheerful giver — is the basis for our word 'hilarious.' God does not want reluctant, compelled giving but joyful, deliberate, willing generosity. The word positions the giver as the one who mirrors God's own character, for God Himself is the supreme dotes — He 'so loved the world that He gave' (John 3:16). Every act of cheerful generosity is a participation in the divine nature.