Meanings
shirt1
plural shirts
- businessAn article of clothing that is worn on the upper part of the body, often with sleeves that cover some or all of the arms.
He went to the mall to find a decent shirt for his interview.
3 more examples
She had her shertes & gyrdyls of heere.
1509, John Fisher, A Mornynge Remembraunce […]Several persons in December had nothing over their shoulders but their shirts.
1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLCHolt was furious referee Michael Oliver refused to then award him a penalty after Ledley King appeared to pull his shirt and his anger was compounded when Spurs immediately levelled.
2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 - 2 Norwich”, in BBC SportSynonyms: sark
- An interior lining in a blast furnace.
- A member of the shirt-wearing team in a shirts and skins game.
shirt2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn article of clothing that is worn on the upper part of the body, often with sleeves that cover some or all of the arms.
Origin
shirt · noun
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-der.?
- Proto-Germanic*skertaną
- Proto-Germanic*skurtaz
- Proto-Germanic*skurtijǭ
- Proto-West Germanic*skurtijā
- Old Englishsċyrte
- Middle Englishschirte
- Englishshirt
From Middle English schirt, schirte, schuirte, schyrtte, seorte, shearte, shert, shirt, sseorte, from Old English sċyrte (“a short garment; skirt; kirtle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurtijā, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ (“a short garment, skirt, apron”), from *skurtaz (“short”), from *skertaną (“to cut off”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off; to divide”). Doublet of skirt. Cognates Cognate with Yola shoorth, skoorth (“shirt”), North Frisian Sjürt (“shirt”), Saterland Frisian Schoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjorte (“shirt”), Faroese skjúrta (“shirt”), Icelandic skyrta (“shirt”), Swedish skjorta (“shirt”), Irish sciorta (“skirt; strip”), Welsh sgert (“skirt”); also Irish curach, currach (“coracle, currach”), Welsh corwg (“coracle”), Latin carō (“flesh; pulp of a fruit; soft part of a precious stone”), Umbrian 𐌊𐌀𐌓𐌖 (karu, “part”), Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to shave; to waste; to consume; to cut short”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear; to scratch”), Latvian šķērst (“cut dead animal or human so as to expose internal organs”), Lithuanian sker̃sti (“to slaughter; to massacre; to cut”), Belarusian кара́ (kará, “bark; crust”), Bulgarian, Carpathian Rusyn, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian кора́ (korá, “bark”), Czech kůra (“bark( crust; cortex; rind”), Kashubian kóra (“bark; crust”), Lower Sorbian škóra (“bark; crust”), Polish kora (“bark; crust; cortex”), Serbo-Croatian ко̏ра, kȍra (“bark; crust”), Slovak kôra (“bark; crust”), Upper Sorbian skora (“bark; crust”), Armenian քերել (kʻerel, “to scrape, scrub”), Central Kurdish چەرم (çerm, “skin”), Northern Kurdish çerm (“skin”), Ossetian царм (carm, “skin”), Persian چرم (čarm, “leather”), Hittite 𒅗𒊑𒄑𒍣 (kariezzi, “to cover”), Kamkata-viri čom, čum (“skin; hide”), Sanskrit चर्मन् (carman, “skin; pelt”). Doublet of skirt via Old Norse; further related to short.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →shirt · verb
- Middle Englishschirten
- Englishshirt
From Middle English schirten, from the noun (see above).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans hemp
- hemparticle of clothing
Arabic قَمِيص
- قَمِيص (qamīṣ)article of clothing
Basque alkandora, atorra
- alkandoraarticle of clothing
- atorraarticle of clothing
Bengali শার্ট, কামিজ
- শার্ট (śarṭo)article of clothing
- কামিজ (kamij)article of clothing
Bulgarian ри́за
- ри́за (ríza)article of clothing
Catalan camisa
- camisaarticle of clothing
Chinese Cantonese 恤衫
- 恤衫 (seot¹ saam¹)article of clothing
Chinese Mandarin 襯衫 /衬衫, 襯衣 /衬衣
- 襯衫 /衬衫 (chènshān)article of clothing
- 襯衣 /衬衣 (chènyī)article of clothing
Czech košile
- košilearticle of clothing
Danish bluse, skjorte
- blusearticle of clothing
- skjortearticle of clothing
- trøjearticle of clothing
Dutch hemd, overhemd
- hemdarticle of clothing
- overhemdarticle of clothing
- shirtarticle of clothing
Esperanto ĉemizo
- ĉemizoarticle of clothing
Estonian särk
- särkarticle of clothing
Finnish paita
- paitaarticle of clothing
French chemise
- chemisearticle of clothing
German Hemd
- Hemdarticle of clothing
Greek πουκάμισο
- πουκάμισο (poukámiso)article of clothing
Hawaiian palaka
- palakaarticle of clothing
Hebrew חולצה \ חֻלְצָה
- חולצה \ חֻלְצָה (khultsá)article of clothing
Hindi क़मीज़
- क़मीज़ (qamīz)article of clothing
Hungarian ing, kombiné
- ingarticle of clothing
- kombinéarticle of clothing
Icelandic skyrta
- skyrtaarticle of clothing
Indonesian baju, kemeja
- bajuarticle of clothing
- kemejaarticle of clothing
Irish léine
- léinearticle of clothing
Italian camicia, maglia
- camiciaarticle of clothing
- magliaarticle of clothing
Japanese シャツ, ワイシャツ
- シャツ (shatsu)article of clothing
- ワイシャツ (waishatsu)article of clothing
Korean 셔츠, 와이셔츠
- 셔츠 (syeocheu)article of clothing
- 와이셔츠 (waisyeocheu)article of clothing
- 남방 (nambang)article of clothing
Latin camisia, tunicula
- camisiaarticle of clothing
- tuniculaarticle of clothing
Latvian krekls
- kreklsarticle of clothing
Lithuanian marškiniai
- marškiniaiarticle of clothing
Malay baju, kemeja
- bajuarticle of clothing
- kemejaarticle of clothing
Māori kokomo, hāte
- kokomoarticle of clothing
- hātearticle of clothing
Norwegian Bokmål skjorte
- skjortearticle of clothing
Polish koszula
- koszulaarticle of clothing
Portuguese camisa
- camisaarticle of clothing
Romanian cămașă
- cămașăarticle of clothing
Russian руба́шка, соро́чка
- руба́шка (rubáška)article of clothing
- соро́чка (soróčka)article of clothing
Scottish Gaelic lèine
- lèinearticle of clothing
Slovak košeľa
- košeľaarticle of clothing
Spanish camisa, chema
- camisaarticle of clothing
- chemaarticle of clothing
Swahili shati
- shatiarticle of clothing
Swedish skjorta
- skjortaarticle of clothing
Tagalog kamiseta, kamisa
- kamisetaarticle of clothing
- kamisaarticle of clothing
Tamil சட்டை
- சட்டை (caṭṭai)article of clothing
Thai เสื้อเชิ้ต, เสื้อ
- เสื้อเชิ้ต (sʉ̂ʉa-chə́ət)article of clothing
- เสื้อ (sʉ̂ʉa)article of clothing
Turkish gömlek, pirahen
- gömlekarticle of clothing
- pirahenarticle of clothing
Ukrainian соро́чка, кошу́ля
- соро́чка (soróčka)article of clothing
- кошу́ля (košúlja)article of clothing
Urdu قَمِیض, قَمِیص
- قَمِیض (qamīz)article of clothing
- قَمِیص (qamīs)article of clothing
Vietnamese áo sơ mi, sơ mi
- áo sơ miarticle of clothing
- sơ miarticle of clothing
Welsh crys
- crysarticle of clothing
Yiddish העמד
- העמד (hemd)article of clothing
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with shirt
Anagrams
Cite this entry
shirt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shirt
“shirt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shirt. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shirt,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shirt.
Source: shirt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.