kilt

kilt · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*gelt-“round body; child”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*kelt-
3. Old Norse · derived fromkelta
4. North Germanic · derived from
5. Middle English · inherited fromkilten“to tuck up, gird”
6. English todaykilt

From Middle English kilten (“to tuck up, gird”), apparently from North Germanic, ultimately from Old Norse kelta, kjalta (“skirt; lap”). Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kelt-, *kelþǭ, *kilþį̄ (“womb”), from Proto-Indo-European *gelt- (“round body; child”). Cognate with Danish kilte (“to tuck”), Swedish kilta (“to swathe”). Related to English child.

kilt · verb²

1. Middle English · inherited fromkilt
2. English todaykilt

From Middle English kilt, equivalent to kill + -t.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 14th c. To gather up (skirts) around the body.
• from 18th c. A traditional Scottish garment, usually worn by men, having roughly the same morphology as a wrap-around skirt, with overlapping front aprons and pleated around the sides and back, and usually made of twill-woven worsted wool with a tartan pattern.