Etymology

eschew

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Today it means: To avoid; to shun, to shy away from. Full definition →

Middle English eschewen ← Anglo-Norman eschiver ← Frankish *skiuhijan
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The story

  1. Frankish · derived from*skiuhijan“to dread, shun, avoid”
  2. Anglo-Norman · derived fromeschiver
  3. Middle English · inherited fromeschewen
  4. English todayeschew

From Middle English eschewen, from Anglo-Norman eschiver, (third-person present eschiu), from Frankish *skiuhijan (“to dread, shun, avoid”); thus a doublet of skew. For the pronunciation with /ʃ/, compare the development of marshal from Middle English marschal (/marsˈt͡ʃaːl/) or Middle English myssheve, variant of myschef (“hardship”). Variants in /sk/ are either from unattested Middle English *eskewen (from Old Northern French eskiver; compare skew) or are spelling pronunciations. See also French esquiver.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.