Etymology — The origins of English words

From Late Middle English shethen (“to put (a sword or knife) into a sheath, sheathe; to provide with a sheath; (figuratively) to have sexual intercourse”) [and other forms], then: * probably from Old English *scēaþian; or * possibly from Middle English sheth, shethe (“holder for a sword, knife, etc., scabbard, sheath”) [and other forms] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Sheth(e) is derived from Old English sċēaþ (“sheath”), from Proto-West Germanic *skaiþiju, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþiz (“sheath; covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”) (possibly from the notion of a split stick with a sword inserted).

From seeable + -ness.

See scramble. Compare Middle Dutch schraeffelen (“to scrape; sweep; put together”).

Alteration (due to folk etymology: shame + faced) of shamefast, from Middle English schamefast, schamfast, sceomefest, from Old English sċamfæst (“modest”), equivalent to shame + fast. Synchronically with -faced (/ˈfeɪst/).

Alteration of scunnered.

From sextuple + -et.

From Middle English semelynes, semlynesse, equivalent to seemly + -ness.

From several + -ize.

From Middle English schedere (“killer”); equivalent to shed + -er.

From Middle English seaward, seward (attested only as an adjective), equivalent to sea + -ward.

Variant of Shirley.

From 1970s; possibly from dialectal English shonk (“smart”).

From German Seston, by surface analysis, Ancient Greek σηστός (sēstós, “sifter”, verbal adjective of σήθω (sḗthō, “I strain, filter”)) + -on. Compare plankton.

Related to scrape.

From secure + -ness.

Pronunciation spelling of shit. Represents a pronunciation with the final consonant deleted (a possible realization in African-American Vernacular English). Compare bih, ahh. Analyzable as shit + -h.

From scorch + -er (agent noun suffix) or -er (descriptive suffix).

Probably from dialectal shackle (“to shake, rattle”) + -y.

From scrap + -let.

Blend of sheep (“likened to sheep in a herd that follow without independent thought”) + people.

Learned borrowing from Latin sēparātrīx, the feminine form of separator (originally owing to an implied līnea (“line”)), from sēparāre (“to divide; to separate”) + -trix (forming female agents). By surface analysis, separate + -trix. First developed as a decimal mark among the medieval Arab mathematicians, whence a shorter variant gave rise to the decimal comma employed by many European countries and their former colonies.

From scrupulo(u)s + -ity, from Latin scrupulositas.

From sensual + -ness.

Borrowed from French serin.