Etymograph

English

shower

Shower comes from Old English sċūr ‘shower’, from Proto-West Germanic *skūru, from Proto-Germanic *skūrō ‘storm, short shower’, whose origin is disputed.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skūrō1‘storm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skūru1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċūr1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schour1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1485shower1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English shower
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, xiiij: “With this I maye be sure to come sauf…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skūrōWiktionary, English shower‘storm’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skūruWiktionary, English showerreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċūrWiktionary, English shower
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schourWiktionary, English shower
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1485showerWiktionary, English shower. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, xiiij: “With this I maye be sure to come sauf…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *skūrō

Another origin of shower

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kewh₁-‘to perceive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skawwōną‘to look, see, watch’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skauwōn‘to look, see, watch’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skauwārī‘one who looks or observes’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċēawere‘an observer, one who examines into a matter’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schewere‘one who exhibits something, actor’
  7. Englishtodayshower

Today it means

noun A brief fall of precipitation (spell of rain, or a similar fall of snow, sleet, or cascade); burst of hefty precipitation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “shower”. 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 *skūrō / shower

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