Etymology

sharn

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Today it means: The dung or manure of cattle or sheep. Full definition →

Middle English schern ← Old English sċearn ← Proto-West Germanic *skarn
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sker-“dung, manure”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skarną“manure”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skarn
  4. Old English · inherited fromsċearn“sharn, dung, muck, filth”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromschern
  6. English todaysharn

From Middle English schern, from Old English sċearn (“sharn, dung, muck, filth”), from Proto-West Germanic *skarn, from Proto-Germanic *skarną (“manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“dung, manure”). Cognate with North Frisian skern (“dung, manure”), Danish, Swedish, and Icelandic skarn (“dung”), German Harn (“urine”). Doublet of skarn.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishsċearn all →

Sharnbrook

Proto-Germanic*skarną all →

Scharnhorstskarn

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.