Etymograph

English

shop

Shop comes from Old English sċoppa ‘shed’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *skub-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skub-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skupp-1‘barn’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċoppa1‘shed’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shoppe1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594shop1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English shop
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “A tailor called me in his shop.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skub-Wiktionary, English shopreconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skupp-Wiktionary, English shop‘barn’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċoppaWiktionary, English shop‘shed’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shoppeWiktionary, English shop
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594shopWiktionary, English shop. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “A tailor called me in his shop.”

The story

The noun senses “act of shopping”, “purchased items” are backformed from the verb.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *skub-

Today it means

noun An establishment that sells goods or services to the public; originally only a physical location, but now a virtual establishment as well.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shop”. 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 *skub- / shop

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