score

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-
2. Proto-Germanic*skurō
3. Old Norseskor
4. Old Englishscoru
5. Middle Englishscore
6. English todayscore

From Middle English score, skore, schore, from Old English scoru (“notch; tally; score”), from Old Norse skor, from Proto-Germanic *skurō (“incision; tear; rift”), which is related to *skeraną (“to cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“cut”). Cognate with Icelandic skora, Swedish skåra, Danish skår. Related to shear. For the sense “twenty”: The mark on a tally made by drovers for every twenty beasts passing through a tollgate.

Words from the same roots