Etymograph

English

cut

Cut comes from Middle English cutten, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kutjaną1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350*kytja1reconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cutten1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598cut1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cut
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “You must cut this flesh from off his breast.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kutjanąWiktionary, English cut‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Old Norsec. 800–1350*kytjaWiktionary, English cutreconstructed
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cuttenWiktionary, English cut
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598cutWiktionary, English cut. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “You must cut this flesh from off his breast.”

The story

From Middle English cutten, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną, *kuttaną (‘to cut’), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *kwetwą (‘meat, flesh’) (compare Old Norse kvett (‘meat’)).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Sometimes instead compared to French couteau, itself from Latin culter (‘knife’). Copmare Scots kut, kit (‘to cut’)); also akin to Middle Swedish kotta (‘to cut or carve with a knife’) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (‘to cut or chip with a knife’), Swedish kuta, kytti (‘a knife’)), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (‘to cut’), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (‘to cut’), Icelandic kuta (‘to cut with a knife’), Old Norse kuti (‘small knife’), Norwegian kyttel, kytel, kjutul (‘pointed slip of wood used to strip bark’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną

Today it means

verb To perform an incision on, for example with a knife.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cut”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kutjaną / cut

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