sky

sky · noun, verb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kewH-“to cover; to conceal, hide”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*skiwją“cloud; sky”
3. Old Norse · derived fromský“cloud”
4. Middle English · inherited fromsky“sky; cloud; mist”
5. English todaysky

The noun is derived from Middle English sky (“sky; cloud; mist”), also spelled ski, skie, [and other forms], from Old Norse ský (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *skiwją (“cloud; sky”), from *skiwô (“cloud; cloud cover, haze; sky”) (whence Old English sċēo (“cloud”) and Middle English skew (“air; sky; (rare) cloud”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”). Partly displaced Old English heofon, which survives in the reflex heaven, still sometimes used in the sense of sky, but usually in high or poetic register. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates The English word is cognate with Old English scēo (“cloud”), Old Saxon scio, skio, skeo (“light cloud cover”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian Bokmål sky (“cloud”), Old Irish ceo (“mist, fog”), Irish ceo (“mist, fog”). It is also related to Old English scūa (“shadow, darkness”), Latin obscūrus (“dark, shadowy”), Sanskrit स्कुनाति (skunāti, “he covers”). See also hide, hose, house, hut, shoe.

sky · noun²

From Volsci (“a tribe who opposed the Romans”).

Sky · proper noun³

1. German · borrowed fromHimmel
2. English todaySky

From sky. As a surname, a translation of German Himmel and an anglicization of Ashkenazic surnames ending in -sky.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 13th–16th c. A cloud.