skew

skew · verb, adjective, adverb, noun¹

1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*skiuhijaną“to frighten”
2. Frankish · derived from*skiuhan“to dread; to avoid, shun”
3. Old French · derived fromeschuer
4. Old Northern French · derived fromescuer
5. Middle English · inherited fromskeuen
6. English todayskew

The verb is derived from Middle English skeuen, skewe, skewen (“to run at an angle or obliquely; to escape”), from Old Northern French escuer [and other forms], variants of Old French eschuer, eschever, eschiver (“to escape, flee; to avoid”) (modern French esquiver (“to dodge (a blow), duck; to elude, evade; to slip away; to sidestep”)), from Frankish *skiuhan (“to dread; to avoid, shun”), from Proto-Germanic *skiuhijaną (“to frighten”). The English word is cognate with Catalan esquiu (“evasive, shy”), Danish skæv (“crooked, slanting; skew, wry”) (> Norwegian Bokmål skjev), Dutch scheef (“crooked, slanting”), Norwegian skeiv (“crooked, lopsided; oblique, slanting; distorted”), Saterland Frisian skeeuw (“aslant, slanting; oblique; awry”), and is a doublet of eschew. The adjective and adverb are probably derived from the verb and/or from askew, and the noun is derived from either the adjective or the verb.

skew · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*skewH-“to cover, protect”
2. Latin · derived fromscūtum“a shield”
3. Old French · derived fromescu
4. Old Northern French · derived fromeschieu
5. Anglo-Norman · derived fromeschu
6. Middle English · inherited fromskeu
7. English todayskew

From Middle English skeu, skew (“stone with a sloping surface forming the slope of a gable, offset of a buttress, etc.”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman eschu, escuwe, eskeu, or Old Northern French eschieu, eskieu, eskiu, from Old French escu, escut, eschif (“a shield”) (modern French écu), from Latin scūtum (“a shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *skewH- (“to cover, protect”) or *skey- (“to cut, split”).

skew · noun³

Perhaps from a Cornish word, though the closest Cornish word is kuas/cwas, which would require much phonological modification; thus, perhaps instead simply from the skewed angle wind may drive such rain to fall in.

Words from the same roots