Etymology

shirt

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Today it means: An article of clothing that is worn on the upper part of the body, often with sleeves that cover some or all of the arms. Full definition →

Middle English schirte ← Old English sċyrte ← Proto-West Germanic *skurtijā
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shirt · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-der.?
  2. Proto-Germanic*skertaną
  3. Proto-Germanic*skurtaz
  4. Proto-Germanic*skurtijǭ
  5. Proto-West Germanic*skurtijā
  6. Old Englishsċyrte
  7. Middle Englishschirte
  8. English todayshirt

From Middle English schirt, schirte, schuirte, schyrtte, seorte, shearte, shert, shirt, sseorte, from Old English sċyrte (“a short garment; skirt; kirtle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurtijā, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ (“a short garment, skirt, apron”), from *skurtaz (“short”), from *skertaną (“to cut off”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off; to divide”). Doublet of skirt. Cognates Cognate with Yola shoorth, skoorth (“shirt”), North Frisian Sjürt (“shirt”), Saterland Frisian Schoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjorte (“shirt”), Faroese skjúrta (“shirt”), Icelandic skyrta (“shirt”), Swedish skjorta (“shirt”), Irish sciorta (“skirt; strip”), Welsh sgert (“skirt”); also Irish curach, currach (“coracle, currach”), Welsh corwg (“coracle”), Latin carō (“flesh; pulp of a fruit; soft part of a precious stone”), Umbrian 𐌊𐌀𐌓𐌖 (karu, “part”), Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to shave; to waste; to consume; to cut short”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear; to scratch”), Latvian šķērst (“cut dead animal or human so as to expose internal organs”), Lithuanian sker̃sti (“to slaughter; to massacre; to cut”), Belarusian кара́ (kará, “bark; crust”), Bulgarian, Carpathian Rusyn, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian кора́ (korá, “bark”), Czech kůra (“bark( crust; cortex; rind”), Kashubian kóra (“bark; crust”), Lower Sorbian škóra (“bark; crust”), Polish kora (“bark; crust; cortex”), Serbo-Croatian ко̏ра, kȍra (“bark; crust”), Slovak kôra (“bark; crust”), Upper Sorbian skora (“bark; crust”), Armenian քերել (kʻerel, “to scrape, scrub”), Central Kurdish چەرم (çerm, “skin”), Northern Kurdish çerm (“skin”), Ossetian царм (carm, “skin”), Persian چرم (čarm, “leather”), Hittite 𒅗𒊑𒄑𒍣 (kariezzi, “to cover”), Kamkata-viri čom, čum (“skin; hide”), Sanskrit चर्मन् (carman, “skin; pelt”). Doublet of skirt via Old Norse; further related to short.

shirt · verb2

  1. Middle English · inherited fromschirten
  2. English todayshirt

From Middle English schirten, from the noun (see above).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker- all →

cardshareshortscreencarolcurvecrucialarrangecircuschancellorscrutinyripperscareshearcoronashrinerafflecirqueshredcruxscornscourgeshardruckcoronavirusscreedskerryReepscrimpincarnadine

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.