do

Where “do” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   A syntactic marker.
2. 2
   A syntactic marker.
3. 3
   A syntactic marker.
4. 4
   A syntactic marker.
5. 5
   A syntactic marker.
6. 6
   A syntactic marker.
7. 7
   To perform; to execute.
8. 8
   To cause or make (someone) (do something).
9. 9
   To suffice.
10. 10
    To be reasonable or acceptable.
11. 11
    To have (as an effect).
12. 12
    To fare, perform (well or poorly).
13. 13
    To fare, perform (well or poorly).
14. 14
    To have as one's job.
15. 15
    To perform the tasks or actions associated with (something).
16. 16
    To cook.
17. 17
    To travel in or through, to tour, to make a circuit of.
18. 18
    To treat in a certain way.
19. 19
    To work for or on, by way of caring for, looking after, preparing, cleaning, keeping in order, etc.
20. 20
    To act or behave in a certain manner; to conduct oneself.
21. 21
    To spend (time) in jail. (See also do time)
22. 22
    To impersonate or depict.
23. 23
    To copy or emulate the actions or behaviour that is associated with the person or thing mentioned.
24. 24
    To kill.
25. 25
    To deal with for good and all; to finish up; to undo; to ruin; to do for.
26. 26
    To punish for a misdemeanor.
27. 27
    To have sex with. (See also do it)
28. 28
    To cheat or swindle.
29. 29
    To convert into a certain form; especially, to translate.
30. 30
    To finish.
31. 31
    To cash or to advance money for, as a bill or note.
32. 32
    To make or provide.
33. 33
    To provide as a service.
34. 34
    To injure (one's own body part).
35. 35
    To take (a drug).
36. 36
    To exist with a purpose or for a reason.
37. 37
    To drive a vehicle at a certain speed, especially in regard to a speed limit.
38. 38
    To perform something suggested by a following noun, verb, or adjective.

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”).

This word in other languages

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