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shed

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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.

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