Etymologically
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shape

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʃeɪp/[1]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English shapen,[2][3] a new present-tense form built on inherited from Old English scapen, past participle of sceppan (“to create, form, destine”) or scieppan,[4][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *skapjaną (“to create, ordain”),[4][2] which is also the source of Old Frisian skeppa, Old Saxon skeppian, Dutch scheppen, Old High German scepfen (German schaffen) and Old Norse skapa.[4][2] It is from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kep- (“to cut, scrape, hack”), which in Germanic took on the sense “to create”.[4][2] The noun is from Old English gesceap “external form; creation; destiny”.[4][5][3] It is related to scoop and to the suffix -ship.[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To create, said of God or Nature: before 1000 in the OED.[7] The noun, external form or contour, is from about 1050,[7] and in Old English it also meant a created being, condition, sex and genitalia.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Old English sceppan survived into Middle English as a strong verb, shippen, but from the 16th century shape has been a regular verb with past tense shaped;[2][5] the old participle survives in misshapen.[5] The contours of the body are from the late 14th century,[4] and “definite, regular form” from the 1630s, hence out of shape (1690s).[4] “Condition, state”, as in the phrase in good shape, is American English by 1865.[4] Lick into shape goes back to the medieval belief that bear cubs were born as formless lumps and licked into shape by their mothers;[6] the current use dates from the early 17th century.[6] Shape up meant “progress” from 1865 and “reform oneself” by 1938,[4] and shape up or ship out is from 1951, said to be Korean War military slang.[4] The shape-shifter is from 1820.[4]

Timeline

  • before 1000 – to create.[7]
  • c. 1050 – noun, external form.[7]
  • late 14th century – figure of the body.[4]
  • 16th century – regular past tense shaped.[2][5]
  • 1630s – proper form.[4]
  • 1690s – out of shape.[4]
  • 1820 – shape-shifter.[4]
  • 1865 – condition, state.[4]
  • 1951 – shape up or ship out.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The outline or contour of something.
  2. The form of a person's body; the figure.
  3. A definite form or pattern: to take shape.
  4. Condition, especially physical fitness: in good shape.
  5. A vague form, as of a ghost.

Verb

  1. To give a particular form to; to mould.
  2. To plan or direct the course of: to shape policy.
  3. To take form; to develop: things are shaping up.

Word family

  • shapable
  • shaped
  • shaper
  • shapeless
  • handshape
  • transshape
  • waveshape
  • shapely
  • misshapen
  • scoop
  • landscape
  • -ship

Usage notes

SHAPE (1950) was the NATO headquarters in Europe.[7]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press