skirt

A1 Topic:Clothing & Appearance

US /skɚt/ UK /skɜːt/ See IPA manual

Freq #4857

Meanings

1

noun
a piece of clothing worn from the waist down, covering part of the legs

She wore a long blue skirt to the party.
2

verb
to go around the edge of something rather than through the middle

The path skirts the edge of the forest.
3

verb
to avoid dealing with a difficult subject directly

The politician skirted the question about taxes.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms skirtedskirtingskirts

Derived forms bedskirtbeskirtforeskirtlightskirtmaxiskirtmicroskirtmidiskirtminiskirtoutskirt outskirtsoverskirtpettiskirt

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

hobble skirt
a long skirt that narrows sharply below the knees and restricts walking

Noun + noun

Idioms (1)

See all

whatever floats your boat
Matching variant: Whatever blows your skirt up

whatever pleases you or suits your preferences

Simplified etymology

Skirt entered English in the Middle English period and shares an ancient root with shirt and short. The root's probable basic sense was “short garment.”

Etymology

From Middle English skyrte, from Old Norse skyrta, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ. Doublet of shirt. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Skoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish skørt (“skirt”), Swedish skört (“hem of a jacket”), Norwegian skjørt (“skirt”).

*(s)ker- Proto-Indo-European skyrte Middle English skyrta Old Norse *skurtijǭ Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Clothing & Appearance

External links

# skirt

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /skɚt/
**IPA (UK):** /skɜːt/
**Frequency rank:** 4857

## Meanings
1. a piece of clothing worn from the waist down, covering part of the legs
2. to go around the edge of something rather than through the middle
3. to avoid dealing with a difficult subject directly

## Examples
- She wore a long blue skirt to the party.
- The path skirts the edge of the forest.
- The politician skirted the question about taxes.

## Derived Forms
- bedskirt
- beskirt
- foreskirt
- lightskirt
- maxiskirt
- microskirt
- midiskirt
- miniskirt
- outskirt
- outskirts
- overskirt
- pettiskirt

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)ker-
- Root: skyrte
- Root: skyrta
- Root: *skurtijǭ

## Etymology
From Middle English skyrte, from Old Norse skyrta, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ. Doublet of shirt. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Skoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish skørt (“skirt”), Swedish skört (“hem of a jacket”), Norwegian skjørt (“skirt”).

## AI Etymology
Skirt is from Middle English skyrte, from Old Norse skyrta, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ. Doublet of shirt. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Skoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish skørt (“skirt”), Swedish skört (“hem of a jacket”), Norwegian skjørt (“skirt”). Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-, Middle English skyrte, Old Norse skyrta, Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ. In current use it includes senses such as a piece of clothing worn from the waist down, covering part of the legs and to go around the edge of something rather than through the middle.

## Topics
- Clothing & Appearance

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