shift

shift · noun, verb¹

1. Middle English · inherited fromschyft
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*skey-“to cut, divide, separate, part”
3. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*skeyb-“to separate, divide, part”
4. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*skiftijaną
5. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*skiftijan
6. Old English · inherited fromsċiftan“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”
7. Middle English · inherited fromschiften
8. English todayshift

The verb is from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, separate into shares; appoint, ordain; arrange, organise”), from Proto-West Germanic *skiftijan, from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną, *skiptijaną, from earlier *skipatjaną (“to organise, put in order”), from Proto-Indo-European *skeyb- (“to separate, divide, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to cut, divide, separate, part”). Cognate with Scots schift, skift (“to shift”), West Frisian skifte, skiftsje (“to sort”), Dutch schiften (“to sort, screen, winnow, part”), Low German schichten (“to stack, layer”), German schichten (“to stack, layer”), Swedish skifta (“to shift, change, exchange, vary”), Norwegian skifte (“to shift”), Icelandic skipta (“to switch”). See ship. The noun is from Middle English schyft, shyffte. Cognate with Dutch schift (“split, fissure”), German Schicht (“layer, shift”).

Shift · noun²

From shift.

Words from the same roots