do
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: note: MLE, some accents in Irish English and Scottish English
ipa: /dy/
ipa: /duː/
rhymes: -uː
homophone: doo
homophone: Doubs
homophone: doux
homophone: (yod-dropping) dew
homophone: due
ipa: /də/
ipa: /dʊ/
ipa: /d͡ʒ/
ipa: /diː/
ipa: /dɪ/
ipa: /dɪv/
Forms: form: dos
form: do's
form: doos
form: de
form: dee
Etymology: From Middle English don, from Old English dōn, from Proto-West Germanic *dōn, from Proto-Germanic *dōną, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, do, make”).
For senses 4 and 5, compare Old Norse duga, also Northern English dow.
The past tense form is from Middle English didde, dude, from Old English dyde, *diede, an unexpected development from Proto-Germanic *dedǭ/*dedē (the expected reflex would be *ded), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti, an athematic e-reduplicated verb of the same root *dʰeh₁-.
The meaningless use of do in interrogative, negative, and affirmative sentences (e.g. "Do you like painting?" "Yes, I do"), existing in some form in most Germanic languages, is thought by some linguists to be one of the Brittonicisms in English, calqued from Brythonic. It is first recorded in Middle English, where it may have marked the perfective aspect, though in some cases the meaning seems to be imperfective. In Early Modern English, any meaning in such contexts was lost, making it a dummy auxiliary, and soon thereafter its use became mandatory in most questions and negations.
Doublets include deed, deem, and -dom, but not deal.
Other cognates include, via Latin, English feast, festival, fair (“celebration”), via Greek, English theo-, theme, thesis, and Sanskrit दधाति (dadhāti, “to put”), धातृ (dhātṛ, “creator”) and धातु (dhātu, “layer, element, root”).
Senses: examples: text: Is your significant other doing you a heckin distress?
ref: 2017 August 9, Tasnim Odrika, “How to deal with trust issues in a relationship”, in The Daily Star, Dhaka, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Aug 2017:
text: When they stick out their tongues, they're doing a mlem, a blep, a blop. They bork. They boof.
ref: 2017 December 11, Jessica Boddy (for NPR), "Dogs are Doggos", in What Do You Meme, page 21
text: Woof woof! I’m the goodest boi! I will do you all a protecc (in exchange for yummy treats and full medical, dental, and vision care).
ref: 2018, “The Understew”, in Brain Stew, number 13, Pierre Laclede Honors College:
text: hey there hope ya dont mind if I do a cronch (I luv the house salad) […] henlo mom / doin a heckin picturesque / the cuter i look / the more treatos i consume
ref: 2020, Doing Things Media, Doggos Doing Things: The Hilarious World of Puppos, Borkers, and Other Good Bois, Running Press, →ISBN:
text: We’re having a bit of a do on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.
text: She was into French cuisine but I ain't no Cordon Bleu / This was at some do in Palmers Green, I had no luck with her
ref: 1980, Jona Lewie, Keef Trouble, “You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties”, performed by Jona Lewie:
text: A gross-gutted, bulb-nosed, bourbon-stanky Boston flatfoot in plain clothes wrinkled white sox, with a race track tip-sheet stuffed in his back pocket trying real hard to mingle unnoticed at an elegant Buddies "do" to glean inside-dope.
ref: 1980 December 13, Mitzel, “Dale Barbre's Murder Transformed”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 21, page 13:
text: […]; this aside, though, neon forever the moniker of trash, this is a posh do, in an opera house full of folk in tuxes.
ref: 2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards”, in The Guardian:
synonyms: word: get-together
word: bash
word: blowout
word: do
word: gala
word: get-together
word: knees-up
word: partay
word: party
word: shindig
word: shivoo
glosses: A party, celebration, social function; usually of moderate size and formality.
raw_tags: used with verbs
examples: text: Nice do!
text: I don't like to spend time on my hairstyle, so I usually just wear a do-rag.
text: I like the new do.
ref: 2012, Hannah Richell, The Secrets of the Tides, →ISBN, page 464:
related: word: 'do
glosses: Clipping of hairdo.
examples: text: Don’t forget the dos and don’ts.
text: With the coming of Monday arrived a new life for David—a curious life full of "don'ts" and "dos."
ref: 1916, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter VIII, in Just David:
antonyms: don't
qualifier: chiefly fossilized
glosses: Something that can or should be done.
examples: text: "How come you quit?" "I'm moving to London." "Fair dos."
qualifier: fossilized in the UK
glosses: Something that has been done.
examples: text: A great deal of do, and a great deal of trouble.
ref: 1689, John Selden, Table Talk:
synonyms: to-do
glosses: Ado; bustle; stir; to-do; A period of confusion or argument.
glosses: A cheat; a swindler.
glosses: An act of swindling; a fraud or deception.
examples: text: Get it done, no not properly
Them man thought that they got me
True, I came back like a fucking zombie
Attempted do with the ching
Have an opp boy say “please don’t chong me!”
ref: 2020 December 4, “No fibs” (1:34 from the start), in (Zone 2) Karma × Trizzac (lyrics), Demented:
glosses: A homicide.
Derived terms: dos and don'ts
hag do
hen do
stag do
sten do