doer

English

Etymology

From Middle English doer, doar, doere, from Old English dōere (“a doer; worker”), equivalent to do +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈduː.ə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈduː.ɚ/
• Rhymes: -uːə(ɹ)
• Homophones: dewar, Dewar

Noun

doer (plural doers)

1. Someone who does, performs, or executes; an active person, an agent.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:doer

   Coordinate term: be-er

   • 1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:

     The doer and the thinker
     No allowance for the other.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 295:

     Though his name was closely linked to that of Physiocrats, he was less an armchair intellectual like Quesnay or the elder Mirabeau than a doer in the vein of Bertin and Trudaine [...].

   • 2008 March 25, Aleksandra Lojek-Magdziarz, The Guardian:

     In schools, submission, not curiosity, was a highly valued virtue. Thinkers were out, doers were in.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Dore, EDRO, Oder, dero, orde, redo, rode, roed

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adverb

doer

1. way over there; far away

   Hulle gesels daar doer. ― They're talking way over there.

   Doer, anderkant die berge! ― Far away, on the other side of the mountains!

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese doer (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin dolēre, present active infinitive of doleō, from Proto-Italic *doleō (“hurt, cause pain”), from Proto-Indo-European *dolh₁éyeti (“divide”), from *delh₁- (“cut”). Cognate with Portuguese doer and Spanish doler.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Verb

doer (first-person singular present doio, first-person singular preterite doín, past participle doído)
doer (first-person singular present doo, first-person singular preterite doim or doí, past participle doído, reintegrationist norm)

1. (intransitive) to ache, hurt; to cause pain
2. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to take pity

Conjugation

References

• “doer” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “doer” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “doer” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “doer” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “doer” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• doere, doar

Etymology

From don +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdoːər(ə)/

Noun

doer (plural doers)

1. doer, agent (someone who does, performs, or executes)
2. offender (criminal who commits a specified crime)
3. (rare) cause, reason

Derived terms

• yvel doer

Descendants

• English: doer

References

• “dọ̄er(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• do

Noun

doer m or n

1. indefinite plural of do

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese doer, from Latin dolēre, from Proto-Italic *doleō (“hurt, cause pain”), from Proto-Indo-European *dolh₁éyeti (“divide”), from *delh₁- (“cut”). Cognate with Galician doer and Spanish doler.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: do‧er

Verb

doer (third-person only, third-person singular present dói, third-person singular preterite doeu, past participle doído)

1. (intransitive) to hurt (be painful)

   Minha perna doía tanto que eu não conseguia andar. ― My leg was hurting so much that I couldn’t walk.

   Injeções doem. ― Injections hurt.

2. (transitive, figurative) to hurt; to pain (cause emotional pain)

   Dói-me ver o sofrimento dessas pessoas. ― It pains me to see these people’s suffering.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• de doer

Related terms

Further reading

• “doer” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “doer” in Dicionário inFormal.
• “doer” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “doer” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “doer” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “doer” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Welsh

Alternative forms

• deler, deuer (imperative)

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈdoːɨ̯r/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔi̯r/
• Rhymes: -oːɨ̯r
• Homophone: doir (South Wales)

Verb

doer

1. (literary) present subjunctive/imperative impersonal literary of dod

Mutation