Etymograph

English

sark

Sark comes from Middle English serk ‘a shirt used as an undergarment’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to arrange, tack, tie, unite’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-1‘to arrange, tack, tie, unite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swerg-1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sarkiz1‘shirt, armour, hauberk’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sarki1‘sark, shirt’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150serċ1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500serk1‘a shirt used as an undergarment’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1902sark1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sark
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, John Buchan: “The next thing the watchers saw was the laird…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-Wiktionary, English sark‘to arrange, tack, tie, unite’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swerg-Wiktionary, English sarkreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sarkizWiktionary, English sark‘shirt, armour, hauberk’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sarkiWiktionary, English sark‘sark, shirt’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150serċWiktionary, English sark
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500serkWiktionary, English sark‘a shirt used as an undergarment’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1902sarkWiktionary, English sark. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, John Buchan: “The next thing the watchers saw was the laird…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to arrange, tack, tie, unite’

service, series, sort, serve, hero, stream, conservative, desert, insert, reservoir, assertion, sermon, conservatism, exert, heresy, assertive, sorcery, sorcerer, concierge, observant, servitude, heretic, conservator, servile, serf, strudel, sere, 34 more

Today it means

noun A garment worn against the torso, inclusive of shirts, tunics, undershirts, nightshirts, surplices.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sark”. 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-Indo-European *ser- / sark

Shirt and support for this word