skill
[skɪɫ]
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.42 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Where did you pick up that skill?"
- "With great skill, she navigated through the tricky passage."
- "Doing that coaching course not only taught me useful skills on the field, but also some important life skills."
- "I have heard the French-man hath good skill in his rapier."
- "Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill."
- "The skill was not in creating a grid full of words, but in producing clues cryptic enough to baffle the puzzler, yet constructed so honestly that they could be solved by any intelligent person who knew the conventions."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- Proto-Germanic *skilją Old Norse skilbor. Middle English skill English skill From Middle English skill, skille (also schil, schile), from Old Norse skil (“a distinction, discernment, knowledge”), from Proto-Germanic *skilją (“separation, limit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”). Cognate with Danish skel (“a separation, boundary, divide”), Swedish skäl (“reason”), Dutch verschil (“difference”) and schillen (“to separate the outer layer (schil) from the product”, verb).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [skɪɫ]
- British English: [skɪɫ]