shit (French)

Where does "shit" come from?

The French noun 'shit', meaning cannabis, is borrowed directly from English 'shit'[1]. The English term descends from Middle English forms like 'schit'[2], which evolved from Old English nouns such as '*sċite' for dung and 'sċitte' for diarrhoea[2]. These forms trace back through Proto-West Germanic '*skiti'[2][6] to the Proto-Germanic noun '*skitiz'[2][5], an offshoot of the verb '*skītaną'[5]. Ultimately, the word stems from the Proto-Indo-European root '*skeyd-', meaning 'to split, divide, separate'[2][7], which itself was an extension of the earlier root '*skey-'[4].

Open questions

• The Old English noun '*sċite' is an unattested, reconstructed form. [2]
• The Proto-Indo-European root '*skey-' is only tentatively thought to derive from a reanalysis of '*sek-' meaning to cut. [3]
• Linguists disagree on the direct derivation of the Proto-Germanic verb '*skītaną' from the Proto-Indo-European root. [10]

Full etymology tree

• shit (French), 'cannabis'
  • borrowed shit (English), 'Usually solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels; feces.'
    • inherited schit (Middle English), 'alternative form of schite'
      • inherited *scite (Old English), 'shit, faeces'
        • inherited *skiti (Proto-West Germanic), 'excrement, feces'
          • inherited *skitiz (Proto-Germanic), 'excrement; feces; shit'
            • derived *skītaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to defecate, to shit'
              • derived *skeyd- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to split, to divide'
                • derived *skey- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to split, to dissect'
                  • affix *sek- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cut, cut off, sever'
                  • suffix *-éy- (Proto-Indo-European)
      • inherited scitte (Old English), 'loose stool, diarrhoea'
        • inherited *skittjā (Proto-West Germanic), 'excretion, defecation'
          • affix *skiti (Proto-West Germanic), 'excrement, feces'
            • inherited *skitiz (Proto-Germanic), 'excrement; feces; shit'
              • derived *skītaną (Proto-Germanic), 'to defecate, to shit'
                • derived *skeyd- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to split, to divide'
                  • derived *skey- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to split, to dissect'
                    • affix *sek- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cut, cut off, sever'
                    • suffix *-éy- (Proto-Indo-European)
          • suffix *-jā (Proto-West Germanic), 'feminine of *-jō: Forms agent nouns from verbs.'

Ancestors

• shit (English)

Sources

1. shit (French) - Wiktionary
2. shit (English) - Wiktionary
3. skey- (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
4. skeyd- (Proto-Indo-European) - Wiktionary
5. skitiz (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary
6. skiti (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
7. scite (Old English) - Wiktionary
8. scitte (Old English) - Wiktionary
9. skittjā (Proto-West Germanic) - Wiktionary
10. skītaną (Proto-Germanic) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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