short

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-der.?
2. Proto-Germanic*skertaną
3. Proto-Germanic*skurtaz
4. Proto-West Germanic*skurt
5. Old Englishsċort
6. Middle Englishschort
7. English todayshort

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-. Doublet of shirt, skirt, and curt. Cognates Cognate with Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. See more at shirt.

Words from the same roots