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Where does the word "skirt" come from? It comes from Old Norse skyrta, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).
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Where does the word "skirt" come from? It comes from Old Norse skyrta, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).
Skirt’s story begins in Old Norse: skyrta meant “a shirt, a short garment.” A shirt or a short garment, a doublet of the native English word shirt. It reached English by 1300s as skirt. Narrowed to mean specifically the lower part of a woman's garment. Today, skirt means a garment that hangs from the waist, covering the lower body.
- Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval skyrta "a shirt, a short garment", a shirt or a short garment, a doublet of the native English word shirt.
- Stage 2 · English · 1300s skirt "a garment hanging from the waist", narrowed to mean specifically the lower part of a woman's garment.