Etymology

do the deed

Today it means: To have sex. Full definition →

Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

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.)

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.