Done is the past participle of do. Done may also be used as an adjective to mean 1.) completed, finished 2.) that food is cooked enough 3.) that something is used up or no longer occurring. Done comes from the Old English word don meaning make, act, perform, cause.
Dun is a verb that means 1.) a brownish-gray color 2.) to relentlessly press for payment of a debt, related terms are duns, dunned, dunning and 3.) an ancient stone fort built in Ireland or Scotland. The adjective form of dun meaning a brownish-gray color comes from the Old English word dunn, meaning dingy brown, dark-colored. The etymology for dun when used to mean relentlessly pressing for payment of a debt is murky, possibly derived from dunkirk meaning privateer, or from the story of a London bailiff named Joe Dun who existed in the 1600s and was reportedly skilled in catching defaulters.
Examples
Lindsay Lohan Has Already Done More In 2016 Than Any Of Us (Vanity Fair)
Dodgers’ rotation work cannot be done just by adding Scott Kazmir (The Los Angeles Times)
So, in order to, 1) have something extra for you on this first day of the brand new 2016, and, 2) get it done pronto, I have decided to rerun that column. (The Boise Weekly)
The real challenge, and an area where there is still much work to be done, is to rebalance public finances. (Isle of Man Today)
For its Wearside debut, the smokehouse has teamed up with Camerons brewery who operate the city centre’s Dun Cow pub. (The Sunderland Echo)
Though native trees and bushes hang on in deeply cut ravines and gulches, the area is mostly open grassland, a desiccated dun color even in late May, on the tail end of the wet season. (The Audubon Magazine)
His youngest daughter was hospitalized after being discovered unconscious at home and his ex-wife Kerry Kennedy reportedly dunned him for not paying his share of child support payments into a family trust fund. (The Daily Freeman)
Now that Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Tom Prendergast has dunned Mayor de Blasio for $2.5 billion to support transit improvements, New York looks forward to the even larger bill he will submit to Gov. Cuomo. (The New York Daily News)
Enjoyed reading about these homophones? Check out some others we covered: