do the deed

verb

"do-the-deed" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“do the deed” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To have sex.

Corpus desk

Index EN-do-the-deed · do the deed · English

do the deed · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "D" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for do the deed
PropertyValue
Headworddo the deed
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “do the deed” in English

do the deedsits beyond the 100,000 most-frequent English words, in the long tail of technical, archaic, or otherwise rare vocabulary where spelling doubt tends to strike hardest.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

do the deed is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

do the deed has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: Earliest attested usage is from Middle English: 1340, Ayenbite of Inwyt "Ȝete þai ben al clene; Haue þai no dede y-done" ("Yet they are all clean; They have not had intercourse"); and in 1443, Reginald Pecock, The Rule of Christian Religion: "By force hath … The correct English form is do the deed, spelled D-O- -T-H-E- -D-E-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    To have sex.
  2. 2
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: to do a given deed.

Etymology

Earliest attested usage is from Middle English: 1340, Ayenbite of Inwyt "Ȝete þai ben al clene; Haue þai no dede y-done" ("Yet they are all clean; They have not had intercourse"); and in 1443, Reginald Pecock, The Rule of Christian Religion: "By force hath he..don that dede, That he hath reft hire of hire maydenhede." (By force he has done that deed, That he has deprived her of her virginity.)

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "do the deed"?
"do the deed" is spelled D-O- -T-H-E- -D-E-E-D.
What does "do the deed" mean?
As a verb, "do the deed" means: To have sex.
What is the origin of the word "do the deed"?
Earliest attested usage is from Middle English: 1340, Ayenbite of Inwyt "Ȝete þai ben al clene; Haue þai no dede y-done" ("Yet they are all clean; They have not had intercourse"); and in 1443, Reginald Pecock, The Rule of Christian Religion: "By f... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list