As an adjective, it means expected or scheduled to happen at a certain time, or owed to someone as a right or payment. As a noun, it often appears in the plural 'dues', meaning fees or payments that must be made.
From Old French 'deu' meaning 'owed, owing', from Latin 'debitus', past participle of 'debere' meaning 'to owe'. It entered Middle English with the sense of something owed or rightful. The time-related meaning grew from the idea of a debt coming to be paid.
When a baby is 'due', the mother doesn’t owe the baby—but the language of debt sneaks in anyway. Phrases like 'give him his due' show how we frame fairness as a kind of payment. The word quietly turns time and justice into things that can be owed and collected.
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