sheer

sheer · adjective, adverb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)ḱeh₁y-“luster, gloss, shadow”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skīriz“pure, sheer”
3. Old Norse · derived fromskírr“pure, bright, clear”
4. Middle English · inherited fromskyr
5. Old English · inherited fromsċīr“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”
6. Middle English · inherited fromschyre
7. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skairiz
8. Old English · inherited fromsċǣre“pure, sheer; shining, clear”
9. Middle English · inherited fromshere
10. English todaysheer

From Middle English shere, scheere, schere, skere, from Old English sċǣre (“pure, sheer; shining, clear”), from Proto-Germanic *skairiz; supplanted the semantically close shire (dialectal), from Middle English schyre, schire, shire, shir, from Old English sċīr (“clear, bright; brilliant, gleaming, shining, splendid, resplendent; pure”), beside which existed Middle English skyr, from Old Norse skírr (“pure, bright, clear”), both from Proto-Germanic *skīriz (“pure, sheer”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₁y- (“luster, gloss, shadow”). Cognate with Danish skær, German schier (“sheer”), German Low German schier (“sheer, pure, unadulterated”; “completely, almost”), Dutch schier (“almost”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 (skeirs, “clear, lucid”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Albanian hir (“grace, beauty; goodwill”).

sheer · noun, verb²

1. Dutch · derived fromscheren“to move aside, skim”
2. English todaysheer

Perhaps from Dutch scheren (“to move aside, skim”); see also shear.

Words from the same roots