Etymograph

English

scissor

Scissor comes from Middle English sisours ‘scissors’, from Latin caedō ‘to cut’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-1‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidō1‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedō2as caedere‘to cut’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cisoires2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sisours2‘scissors’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cysour2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1613–1614scissor2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin caedo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English scissor
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613–1614, John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare: “[…] let me know, Why mine owne Barber is…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-Wiktionary, Latin caedo‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydetiWiktionary, Latin caedoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidōWiktionary, Latin caedo‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedōWiktionary, English scissoras caedere‘to cut’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cisoiresWiktionary, English scissor
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sisoursWiktionary, English scissor‘scissors’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cysourWiktionary, English scissor
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1613–1614scissorWiktionary, English scissor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1613–1614, John Fletcher, William Shak[e]speare: “[…] let me know, Why mine owne Barber is…”

The story

From Middle English cysour, cysoure, cysowre, altered from sisours (‘scissors’), from Old French cisoires, cisours, cisur, from Latin caedere (‘to cut’); current spelling influenced by Latin scindere, scissus (‘to split’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’

hit, 27 more

through Latin caedō ‘to cut’

decision, cement, precise, concise, circumcision, incision, chisel, incisive, excision, caesium, incisor, 25 more

Today it means

noun One blade of a pair of scissors.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “scissor”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin caedo. 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 *kh₂eyd- / scissor

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