Etymologically
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shift

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 23:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʃɪft/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shiften,[2][3] inherited from Old English sċiftan (“to arrange, divide, apportion”),[2][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *skiftaną,[2][4] also the source of Old Norse skipta “to divide, change”, Old Frisian skifta “to decide” and German schichten “to arrange in layers”.[2][4][3] It is said to be related to Old English scēadan “to divide”, the source of shed.[2][4] Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *skēi-b-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To arrange, appoint, put in order, and to apportion or divide: about 1000 in the OED, both senses now obsolete.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

By the mid-13th century the verb had come to mean “to change, alter” and “to replace with another”, first of clothing,[2] and by about 1300 “to move, transfer” from one place to another.[2][4] To manage or make shift for oneself is from the 1510s.[2][4] The noun began as “a movement, a beginning” about 1300,[2][6] then “an attempt, an expedient” (mid-15th century), hence a device or trick (1520s) and makeshift;[2] a change of position or character is from the 1560s.[2] A woman's chemise (1590s) was probably named from the noun's use for a change of clothes.[2] A relay of workers, and their period of work, is from 1809, originally in mines, perhaps after an older sense “relay of horses” (1708).[2] The gear shift is from 1914 (verb 1910),[2] the typewriter shift key by 1893.[2] Shifty first meant resourceful (1570), and dishonest from 1837, in Carlyle.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – to arrange, divide.[6]
  • mid-13th century – to change, alter.[2]
  • c. 1300 – to move from one place to another; noun, a movement.[2]
  • 1510s – to shift for oneself.[2]
  • 1560s – noun, a change.[2]
  • 1590s – a chemise.[2]
  • 1809 – a period of work.[2]
  • 1893 – shift key.[2]
  • 1914 – a gear shift.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To move from one place or position to another.
  2. To change or exchange for another of the same kind.
  3. To change gears in a vehicle.
  4. shift for oneself: to manage alone.

Noun

  1. A change of place, position or direction: a shift in public opinion.
  2. A group of workers who work in turns with others, or the period they work.
  3. A means or expedient, sometimes a trick.
  4. A loose, straight dress, or formerly a woman's chemise.
  5. A key or mechanism for changing to capital letters or other characters on a keyboard.

Word family

  • shifter
  • shiftable
  • shiftingly
  • shiftingness
  • frameshift
  • loanshift
  • makeshift
  • blueshift
  • shed

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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press