shed

English has two words spelled shed: the verb to cast off, and the small building.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃɛd/^[4]

shed¹ cast off

Etymology

The verb is Middle English sheden, inherited from Old English scēadan (“to divide, separate; to scatter”),^[3][2][5] from Proto-Germanic *skaiþaną,^[3][2] cognate with Old Saxon skēthan, Dutch scheiden, German scheiden (“to separate”) and Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌰𐌽 (skaidan),^[3][2][5] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *skei- (“to cut, split”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To divide or separate, and to discriminate or decide: Old English.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

To pour out or let fall, as tears, is from the late 12th century, and to give forth light from about 1200.^[3][2] To shed blood is from about 1300.^[3] Of animals losing hair or feathers it is from about 1500, of trees losing leaves from the 1590s, and of people taking off clothes from about 1780.^[3] To get rid of something unwanted, as in shed jobs, is a later sense.^[6][7] The Old English noun scead, separation, survives in the parting of the hair (about 1300) and in watershed.^[3][8]

Timeline

• Old English – to divide.^[3]
• late 12th century – to shed tears.^[3]
• c. 1300 – to shed blood.^[3]
• c. 1500 – of animals, to moult.^[3]
• 1590s – of trees, to drop leaves.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To let fall or cast off naturally, as leaves, hair or skin.
2. To get rid of something unwanted: shed weight.
3. To give off or send out: shed light.
4. To pour out, as in shed tears or shed blood.

Word family

• watershed
• bloodshed

shed² small building

Etymology

The building is possibly a variant of shade,^[1][3][9] or influenced by Middle English shudde, a hut, from Old English scydd.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A light temporary shelter: 1481, as shadde, in Caxton's translation of Reynard the Fox.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

It was at first the barest kind of shelter;^[3] a building for storage is by 1855.^[3] A large roofed structure with open sides, as for animals or vehicles, is also a shed.^[7][6]

Timeline

• 1481 – shadde, a shelter.^[1]
• 1855 – a storage building.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A simple single-storey building used for storage or as a workshop.
2. A large open-sided structure, as for vehicles or animals.

Related words

• shade
• schism

References

1. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press