Etymograph

English

bedo

Bedo comes from Old English bedōn ‘to shut’, from dōn ‘to do’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *dōną ‘to do, make’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dōną1‘to do, make’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dōn2‘to do’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dōn3‘to do’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bedōn4‘to shut’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bedon4
  6. Englishtodaybedo4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *dōn
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English don
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English bedon
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English bedo

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*dōnąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *dōn‘to do, make’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*dōnWiktionary, Old English don‘to do’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150dōnWiktionary, Old English bedon‘to do’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150bedōnWiktionary, English bedo‘to shut’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bedonWiktionary, English bedo
  6. EnglishtodaybedoWiktionary, English bedo

Formed from be- + do

Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi ‘at, near’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi

Proto-Germanic *bi ‘near, by’

Proto-Germanic *bi-

Proto-West Germanic *bi-

English be-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ‘to put’

Proto-Germanic *dōną ‘to do’

Proto-West Germanic *dōn ‘to do’

Old English dōn ‘to do’

Middle English don

English do

Linked words

through Proto-West Germanic *dōn ‘to do’

overdone, 1 more

through Old English dōn ‘to do’

do, done, overdo, doff, 2 more

Today it means

verb To shut; make or put to.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bedo”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-West Germanic *dōn, Old English don, Old English bedon. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *dōną / bedo

Shirt and support for this word