Etymology

horseshoe

H4O1R1S1E1S1H4O1E1

Today it means: The U-shaped shoe of a horse, now typically made of metal; by extension, a representation of this used to play the game horseshoes, hung as a luck charm, etc. Full definition →

Middle English horsscho
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromhorsscho
  2. Middle English · inherited fromhorsscho
  3. English todayhorseshoe

Calks (identified by the letter "C" on the shown horseshoe) consist of spur-point and a shank to form an antislipping device. Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sós? Proto-Indo-European *h₁wers-? Proto-Indo-European *wers- Proto-Indo-European *-ḗn Proto-Indo-European *wérsēn Proto-Indo-Iranian *(w)ŕ̥šā Proto-Iranian *(w)ŕ̥šāder.? Proto-Germanic *hrussą Proto-West Germanic *hross Old English hors Middle English hors Proto-Germanic *skōhaz Proto-West Germanic *skōh Old English sċōh Middle English scho Middle English horsscho English horseshoe Inherited from Middle English horsscho, from hors + scho. By surface analysis, horse + shoe.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.