Etymograph

English

skill

Skill comes from Old Norse skil ‘a distinction, discernment, knowledge’, from Proto-Germanic *skilją ‘separation, limit’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- ‘to split, cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kelH-1‘to split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skilją1‘separation’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350skil1‘a distinction’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skill1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590skill1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English skill
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto I: “Him so I sought, and so at last I…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kelH-Wiktionary, English skill‘to split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skiljąWiktionary, English skill‘separation’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350skilWiktionary, English skill‘a distinction’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skillWiktionary, English skill
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590skillWiktionary, English skill. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto I: “Him so I sought, and so at last I…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- ‘to split, cut’

half, shield, shell, shale, skull, shoal, halter, shilling, halve, schilling, shelve, hapa, schelling, 14 more

Another origin of skill

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kelH-‘to split, cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skilōną‘to divide, limit’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150scilian‘to separate, part, divide off’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skilen
  5. Englishtodayskill

Today it means

noun A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “skill”. 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 *(s)kelH- / skill

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