Misdoes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Performs an action in a wrong or improper manner
2. Acts or behaves in a way that is mistaken or incorrect
3. Carries out something badly or improperly

Etymology: "Misdoes" is simply the third-person singular form of "misdo," so the real story belongs to the verb. Its root is Old English "misdōn," which meant "to do evil, transgress, do amiss, err," so the original sense was moral as well as practical: wrongdoing was as much the point as doing something badly. The Old English verb came from a Proto-Germanic compound, built from a prefix meaning "wrongly" or "amiss" and the ordinary verb "to do." The prefix is the same "mis-" found in "mistake" and "misjudge," and the verb's relatives appear across the Germanic languages. Dutch "misdoen" and Middle High German "missetuon" both carried the sense of offending or transgressing, which shows the old moral flavour was widely shared. English gradually let the moral weight fade, leaving the plainer meaning of doing something in the wrong manner.