Etymology

shoot

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Today it means: To fire (a weapon that releases a bullet or other projectile). Full definition →

Middle English schoten ← Old English sċēotan ← Proto-West Germanic *skeutan
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shoot · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kewd-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kéwdeti?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*(s)kewd-der.?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*sket-der.?
  5. Proto-Germanic*skuttōnąbf.?
  6. Proto-Germanic*skeutaną
  7. Proto-West Germanic*skeutan
  8. Old Englishsċēotan
  9. Middle Englishschoten
  10. English todayshoot

Inherited from Middle English scheten, schoten, from Old English scēotan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeutan, from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kéwd-e-ti, thematic present of *(s)kewd- (“to shoot, throw”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian sjitte, Low German scheten, Dutch schieten, German schießen, Danish skyde, Norwegian Bokmål skyte, Norwegian Nynorsk skyta, Swedish skjuta; and also, through Indo-European, with Russian кида́ть (kidátʹ), Albanian hedh (“to throw, toss”), Persian چست (čost, “quick, active”), Lithuanian skudrùs.

shoot · interjection2

Minced oath for shit.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishscēotan all →

shut

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.