Etymology

sift

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Today it means: To sieve or strain (something). Full definition →

Middle English syften ← Old English siftan ← Proto-West Germanic *siftijan
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*siftijan
  2. Old English · inherited fromsiftan
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsyften
  4. English todaysift

From Middle English syften, from Old English siftan, from Proto-West Germanic *siftijan.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.