Dues

How to spell dues

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce dues

What does dues mean?

1. nounRegular fees or charges payable for membership of an organisation.

Dues in a sentence

• Members who fail to pay their dues lose access to the gym.

• The union collects annual dues directly from each paycheque.

Where does dues come from?

Language of origin: French

This is the plural of 'due', which came into English in the 1300s from Old French 'deu', the past participle of the verb 'devoir', meaning 'to owe'. That French verb descends from the Latin 'debere', literally 'to owe' or 'to be bound to pay', the same root that gives us 'debt' and 'debit'. A 'due' began as anything owed or rightfully payable, and by the 1600s 'dues' had settled into its now familiar sense of the regular fees a member owes to a club, union, or society. The spelling trap is that 'dues' sounds exactly like 'dews' (the plural of morning dew); remembering the link to 'due' and 'debt', things you are bound to pay, keeps the right word in mind.

How the word is built

• due (owed, from Latin debere: to owe)
• -s (plural)

Words that sound like dues

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• dos: Plural of 'do': organised social occasions such as parties or celebrations.