Etymograph

English

shy

Shy comes from Proto-West Germanic *skeuh ‘shy, fearful’, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skeuhaz‘shy, fearful’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skeuh‘shy, fearful’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċēoh
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shy
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1641same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skeuhaz‘shy, fearful’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*skeuh‘shy, fearful’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150sċēoh
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500shy
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1641same form

Earliest quotation: 1641, Henry Wotton: “Princes are, by wisdom of state, somewhat shy of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-

cuff, shove, shoving, shill, 3 more

Today it means

adj Easily frightened; timid.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *skeuhaz / shy

Shirt and support for this word