Etymograph

English

shapeless

Shapeless comes from Middle English schaples ‘Misshapen or shapeless’, from Old English sċeap ‘sheep’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skēpą.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skēpą‘sheep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skāp‘sheep’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeap‘sheep’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schap‘Geometrical shape or configuration’
  5. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500schaples‘Misshapen or shapeless’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1976shapeless

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skēpą‘sheep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skāp‘sheep’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċeap‘sheep’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500schap‘Geometrical shape or configuration’
  5. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500schaples‘Misshapen or shapeless’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1976shapeless

Earliest quotation: 1976, Records in Review: “If you skip the prelude, which is at once…”

Linked words

through Old English sċeap ‘sheep’

sheep, 1 more

Today it means

adj Without a clearly defined or identifiable shape.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *skēpą / shapeless

Shirt and support for this word