It’s surprising that a simple little single-syllable word can be so daunting; maybe it’s simply the wide variety of spellings and meanings. We’ll take a look at all the permutations of do.
dew: water that collects on the ground at night
do: to take action.
due: the time when a bill has to be paid, or something is owed or expected.
doo: a Scotish word for dove or pigeon
du: a French contraction for the words de (of) and le (the).
Do is an old word, originating before 900, from the Old English d?n; it’s related to the Latin suffix -dere to put.
Due is from a few hundred years later, around 1300; it comes to Middle English from the Middle French deu, which comes from the Latin d?b?re to owe. It’s the same root word from which we get debt.
Dew is another old word, again from before 900; it’s from the Old English d?aw; in German it’s Tau, and Old Norse d?gg, all of which mean the same thing, wet stuff on the ground.
Jim MacQuarrie
When he's not arming children for the zombie apocalypse or coaching the USC Trojan Archery team, Jim is writing about "all the stuff that would have gotten you a wedgie in 1976" at AtomicJunkShop.com and serving as the President of CAPS, the Comic Art Professional Society. His kids are all grown up, and his wife is patiently waiting for him to do likewise.
There’s also doo, like a big hub-bub, a to-do. Or ‘do, short for hairdo.