Deed

How to spell deed

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce deed

What does deed mean?

1. nounSomething that is done; an intentional act, often a notable or significant one.
2. nounA signed and sealed legal document, especially one that transfers ownership of property.

Deed in a sentence

• Rescuing the stranded hikers was a brave deed.

• The solicitor kept the deed to the house in a secure file.

• Volunteers spent the weekend doing one good deed after another.

• Once the loan was repaid, the bank returned the deed to the owner.

Where does deed come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English dēd or dǣd, meaning simply 'a thing done' or 'an act', and it traces back to the same ancient Germanic root that gave us the verb 'do'. The connection is exactly that: a deed is literally something that has been done. Related forms survive across the Germanic languages, including the German Tat 'act' and the Dutch daad, all springing from a shared root meaning 'to put' or 'to place'. By the medieval period the noun had also taken on a narrower legal sense in English, naming a written, sealed instrument that records and proves a binding act such as transferring land. The double 'e' simply reflects the long vowel that has been pronounced and written in this family of words for well over a thousand years.

How the word is built

• deed (from Old English dēd/dǣd: a thing done), related to the verb 'do'