shorten (English)

Where does "shorten" come from?

The English verb 'shorten' developed from the Middle English forms 'shortnen' and 'schortenen'[1]. In certain senses, it represents an altered continuation of Middle English 'schorten', meaning 'to make short' or 'shorten'[1]. That verb descended from Old English 'sċortian', which meant 'to become short'[1], deriving from Proto-Germanic '*skurtōną' ('to shorten')[1] as well as related Proto-West Germanic forms[3]. Ultimately, the verb traces back to the Proto-Germanic adjective '*skurtaz', meaning 'short'[2][5].

Open questions

Proto-Germanic '*skurtōną' may have formed directly from the adjective '*skurtaz' or developed as an iterative verb alongside '*skertaną'. [2]
Old English 'sċortian' reflects an overlap of two distinct Proto-West Germanic verbs, '*skurtōn' ('to make short') and '*skurtēn' ('to be short'). [3]
The deeper Indo-European root of '*skurtaz' is tentatively tied to '*(s)kerdʰ-' ('to cut up'), which itself might be an extension of the base root '*(s)ker-'. [5] [8]

Full etymology tree

shorten (English), 'To make shorter; to abbreviate.'
- inherited shortnen (Middle English)
  - derived schorten (Middle English)
    - inherited scortian (Old English), 'to become short, shorten'
      - inherited *skurtōn (Proto-West Germanic)
        inherited *skurtōną (Proto-Germanic), 'to make short; shorten'
      - inherited *skurtēn (Proto-West Germanic), 'to go short, lack'
        inherited *skurtāną (Proto-Germanic), 'to be short'
        affix *skurtaz (Proto-Germanic), 'short'
        suffix *-āną (Proto-Germanic), 'Creates stative - fientive verbs from other verbs, from adjectives and from nouns.'

Ancestors

scortian (Old English)
*skurtōną (Proto-Germanic)

Descendants and derived words

shorten down (English)
shortening (English)
shortening (English)
shorten up (English)

Sources

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris