shut
/ʃʌt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.78 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English schitten, schetten, from Old English sċyttan (“to cause rapid movement, shoot a bolt, shut, bolt”), from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan, from Proto-Germanic *skutjaną, *skuttijaną (“to bar, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *skuttą, *skuttjō (“bar, bolt, shed”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to drive, fall upon, rush”). The Modern English word was originally a dialect form; the Old English word would have normally merged with shit. Cognate with Dutch schutten (“to shut in, lock up”), Low German schütten (“to shut, lock in”), German schützen (“to shut out, dam, protect, guard”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: schitten, sċyttan, *skuttjan, *skutjaną, *skuttą, *(s)kewd-