Etymology of shear

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗

verb

To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping. · To cut the hair of (a person). · To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears. · To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions.

adj

Misspelling of sheer.

noun

A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger. · A large machine use for cutting sheet metal. · The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing. · Forces that push in opposite directions.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der. Proto-Germanic *skeraną Proto-West Germanic *skeran Old English sċieran Middle English scheren English shear From Middle English sheren, scheren, from Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeran, from Proto-Germanic *skeraną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”). Cognate with West Frisian skarre, Low German, Dutch, and German scheren, Danish skære, Norwegian Bokmål skjære, Norwegian Nynorsk skjera, Swedish skära, Faroese and Icelandic skera, (borrowed from Germanic) Finnish keritä; and (from Indo-European) with Kamkata-viri ċarë́- (“to chop”), Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to cut off”), Latin caro (“flesh”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”), harr (“to cut, to mow”), Lithuanian ski̇̀rti (“separate”), Welsh ysgar (“separate”). See also sharp.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inherited-form mentionsherenenm
Inherited-form mentionsċieranang
Inherited-form mention*skerangmw-pro
Inherited-form mention*skeranągem-pro
Derivation mention*(s)ker-ine-pro · to cut
Cognate mentionskarrefy
Cognate mentionskæreda
Cognate mentionskjærenb
Cognate mentionskjerann
Cognate mentionskärasv
Cognate mentionkeritäfi
Cognate mentionċarë́-bsh · to chop
Cognate mentionκείρωgrc
Cognate mentioncarola
Cognate mentionshqerrsq
Cognate mentionskìrtilt
Cognate mentionysgarcy

This page abbreviates 10 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "ety",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:scheren",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.\nProto-Germanic *skeraną\nProto-West Germanic *skeran\nOld English sċieran\nMiddle English scheren\nEnglish shear\n[Appendix:Glossary#derived_terms|Derived]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"cut\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*(s)ker-\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*skeraną\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-West Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*skeran\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"gmw-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old English\", \"term\" : \"sċieran\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ang\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"scheren\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"shear\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"shear\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "sheren"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English sheren"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "sċieran",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to shear; to shave"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English sċieran (“to shear; to shave”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gmw-pro",
        "3": "*skeran"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-West Germanic *skeran"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*skeraną"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *skeraną"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*(s)ker-",
        "t": "to cut"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fy",
        "2": "skarre"
      },
      "expansion": "West Frisian skarre"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nds,nl,de",
        "2": "scheren"
      },
      "expansion": "Low German, Dutch, and German scheren"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "da",
        "2": "skære"
      },
      "expansion": "Danish skære"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nb",
        "2": "skjære"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian Bokmål skjære"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nn",
        "2": "skjera"
      },
      "expansion": "Norwegian Nynorsk skjera"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "sv",
        "2": "skära"
      },
      "expansion": "Swedish skära"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fo,is",
        "2": "skera"
      },
      "expansion": "Faroese and Icelandic skera"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "keritä",
        "id": "shear"
      },
      "expansion": "Finnish keritä"
    },
    {
      "name": "qualifier",
      "args": {
        "1": "from Indo-European"
      },
      "expansion": "(from Indo-European)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "bsh",
        "2": "ċarë́-",
        "t": "to chop"
      },
      "expansion": "Kamkata-viri ċarë́- (“to chop”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "grc",
        "2": "κείρω",
        "3": "",
        "4": "to cut off"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to cut off”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "caro",
        "3": "",
        "4": "flesh"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin caro (“flesh”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "sq",
        "2": "shqerr",
        "3": "",
        "4": "to tear, cut"
      },
      "expansion": "Albanian shqerr (“to tear, cut”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "lt",
        "2": "skìrti",
        "3": "",
        "4": "separate"
      },
      "expansion": "Lithuanian ski̇̀rti (“separate”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "cy",
        "2": "ysgar",
        "3": "",
        "4": "separate"
      },
      "expansion": "Welsh ysgar (“separate”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "ety",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:scheren",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.\nProto-Germanic *skeraną\nProto-West Germanic *skeran\nOld English sċieran\nMiddle English scheren\nEnglish shear"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*(s)ker-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/(s)ker-#Proto-Indo-European:_cut"
    ],
    [
      "*skeraną",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/skeraną"
    ],
    [
      "*skeran",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/skeran"
    ],
    [
      "sċieran",
      "scieran#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "scheren",
      "scheren#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "sheren",
      "sheren#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "scheren",
      "scheren#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "sċieran",
      "scieran#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "*skeran",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/skeran"
    ],
    [
      "*skeraną",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/skeraną"
    ],
    [
      "*(s)ker-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/(s)ker-"
    ],
    [
      "skarre",
      "skarre#West_Frisian"
    ],
    [
      "Low German",
      "scheren#Low_German"
    ],
    [
      "Dutch",
      "scheren#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "scheren",
      "scheren#German"
    ],
    [
      "skære",
      "skære#Danish"
    ],
    [
      "skjære",
      "skjære#Norwegian_Bokmål"
    ],
    [
      "skjera",
      "skjera#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
    ],
    [
      "skära",
      "skära#Swedish"
    ],
    [
      "Faroese",
      "skera#Faroese"
    ],
    [
      "skera",
      "skera#Icelandic"
    ],
    [
      "keritä",
      "keritä#Finnish:_shear"
    ],
    [
      "ċarë́-",
      "ċarë́-#Kamkata-viri"
    ],
    [
      "κείρω",
      "κείρω#Ancient_Greek"
    ],
    [
      "caro",
      "caro#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "shqerr",
      "shqerr#Albanian"
    ],
    [
      "harr",
      "harr#Albanian"
    ],
    [
      "ski̇̀rti",
      "skirti#Lithuanian"
    ],
    [
      "ysgar",
      "ysgar#Welsh"
    ],
    [
      "sharp",
      "sharp#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To remove the fleece from (a sheep, llama, etc.) by clipping.",
        "To cut the hair of (a person).",
        "To cut, originally with a sword or other bladed weapon, now usually with shears, or as if using shears.",
        "To deform because of forces pushing in opposite directions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "transitive"
      ],
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    },
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Misspelling of sheer."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "misspelling"
      ],
      "recordId": "89b2b6e1302e5748153d2b4e5cb85d9c0415600d448d8861cbb8c4effce6ec84",
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 34374
    },
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A cutting tool similar to scissors, but often larger.",
        "A large machine use for cutting sheet metal.",
        "The act of shearing, or something removed by shearing.",
        "Forces that push in opposite directions."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
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  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 10,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

The source etymologies

Unnumbered source etymology

Relationships mentioned by the source

Where this record stops

Source and snapshot