Read along with the three podcasts, or open the full dictionary entry for Do the cooking for the definition, Arabic meaning, synonyms and example sentences.
Narrator: Today's word is "Do-The-Cooking" — phrase (verb), pronounced /duː ðə ˈkʊkɪŋ/, with the stress on "cook".
Narrator: To do the cooking is to be the person who prepares the meals.
Narrator: In plain English, do the cooking means to make the food for the household.
Narrator: It combines do, from Old English don, with cooking, from the Latin coquere, to cook.
Narrator: "Who does the cooking?" describes asking whose job it is to make dinner.
Narrator: It differs from cook because do the cooking suggests a regular duty, whereas cook can be a single act.
Narrator: "Do all the cooking" is a second pattern, meaning to carry the whole cooking load.
Narrator: Family life, restaurants, shared housing, household planning and rota apps all rely on the phrase do the cooking.
Narrator: So remember: do the cooking means to take charge of preparing meals.
Speaker A: What does do the cooking mean?
Speaker B: Making the meals! DO THE COOKING joins do, from Old English don, with cooking, from the Latin coquere.
Speaker A: So it is about responsibility?
Speaker B: Yes — it says who is in charge of the kitchen!
Speaker A: Example sentences?
Speaker B: "I do the cooking on weekdays"; "Who is going to do the cooking tonight?"; "He does all the cooking" — routine, question and duty.
Speaker A: Common mistakes?
Speaker B: Don't say make the cooking, because English uses do the cooking for the task, and make a meal for the result.
Speaker A: Close relatives?
Speaker B: 'Cook' the short cousin, 'prepare dinner' the plain twin, 'run the kitchen' the grander alternative. The phrase keeps its homely charm!
Speaker B: Let's use "Do-The-Cooking" in AI prompts — useful for household rota apps and meal planners.
Speaker A: So a prompt could frame rotas?
Speaker B: Right. For a family app, you'd write:
Prompt: Build a weekly rota that shows who will do the cooking each evening and sends a reminder at four o'clock.
Speaker A: How about fairness?
Speaker B: Ask the model to write:
Prompt: Write a function that shares who does the cooking among four flatmates so that nobody cooks twice in a row.
Speaker A: Could it help with planning?
Speaker B: Yes, you can frame menus:
Prompt: Suggest five simple dinners for a person who has to do the cooking after work in thirty minutes.
Speaker A: One more?
Speaker B: For a notification bot, try this:
Prompt: Draft a friendly message asking who will do the cooking on Friday and offering to swap days.
Do the cooking — meaning in Arabic & definition More D courses GL Dictionary