Did

How to spell did

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce did

What does did mean?

1. verbThe past tense of 'do', used to indicate a completed action or as an auxiliary in questions, negatives, and emphasis.

Did in a sentence

• She did all of her homework before dinner.

• He did not arrive until after midnight.

Where does did come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is the past tense of the verb 'do', and it descends directly from Old English 'dyde', the past form of 'don', meaning 'to do' or 'to perform'. The Old English verb belonged to a small group of so-called weak verbs whose past tense was formed by a kind of reduplication, repeating part of the root, which is why the form looks so different from a regular '-ed' ending. The same Germanic root also lies behind the modern German 'tun' and 'tat', showing the family resemblance across the languages. Over the centuries 'dyde' was smoothed down to 'dide' in Middle English and finally to the short modern 'did'. Because it has always been one of the most heavily used words in English, its irregular shape has survived intact rather than being regularised.

How the word is built

• did (irregular past tense of the verb 'do', from Old English dyde)