Etymology

shrug

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Today it means: A lifting of the shoulders to signal indifference or a casual lack of knowledge about something. Full definition →

Middle English schruggen ← Old Norse skrykkva ← Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*skrinkwaną
  2. Old Norse · derived fromskrykkva
  3. Middle English · inherited fromschruggen
  4. English todayshrug

From Middle English schruggen, shrukken, probably of North Germanic origin related to Danish skrugge, skrukke (“to stoop; crouch”), Swedish skruga, skrukka (“to huddle; crouch”), all from or related to Old Norse skrykkva, from Proto-Germanic *skrinkwaną. Compare also Old English scrincan (“to shrink”). More at shrink.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*skrinkwaną all →

shrivel

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.