shun

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English shunen, also shunnen and schunien,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English scunian (“to abhor, fear, avoid”),^[5][6][7][8] found chiefly in the compounds āscunian and onscunian.^[5][9][10] The OED describes it as a weak verb not found in the other Germanic languages and of obscure origin;^[5][6] Barnhart and Klein call it of uncertain origin,^[11][4] and Hoad, Holthausen and the ODE of unknown origin.^[9][8][12] The OED suggests that if its first sense was "to hide oneself (from)", it could come from the root Proto-Indo-European *sku- (“to cover, hide”);^[5] Etymonline likewise names Proto-Indo-European *skeu- (“to cover, to hide”) as a possible ultimate source,^[6] and Wiktionary posits Proto-Germanic *skunōną.^[1][13] Skeat compared Icelandic skynda (“to hasten, hurry”),^[14] Weekley the Scots scunner,^[10] and the Shorter Oxford shunt.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English, to abhor or detest, to seek safety from an enemy by hiding or flight, and to shrink with fear,^[5][7][12] before 950 according to Barnhart.^[11] The modern sense, to keep away from a person, thing or practice, is recorded from about 1175, in the Lambeth Homilies and the Ormulum;^[5][7] Barnhart's first record is from probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The Old English senses of loathing and fear died out in Middle English: "to abhor" is last recorded about 1275, "to be afraid" about 1480,^[5][15] and "to seek safety by flight" lasted until 1638.^[5] Middle English also used it for escaping a threatened evil (from about 1275), for guarding against something (1338–1798), and intransitively for moving aside to avoid someone (about 1330–1650);^[5] in Scots and several English dialects shun still meant to move aside or make room in the 19th century.^[16] In the late 16th century it was used for dodging a blow.^[5][15] Johnson (1755) defined it as to avoid, decline, try to escape, or eschew.^[17] In modern prose the OED notes that it always means avoiding persistently or habitually.^[5] A noun, as in upon the shun, is recorded from 1823, in Scott.^[5] In American English a shunpike, from 1805 the name of a road in New York, was a road built to avoid tolls.^[6]

Timeline

• before 950 – Old English scunian, to abhor, fear, avoid.^[11][5]
• c. 1175 – to keep away from a person, thing or practice.^[5]
• c. 1275 – to escape a threatened evil.^[5]
• c. 1330 – intransitive, to move aside to escape someone (obsolete by 1650).^[5]
• 1586 – to evade a blow (obsolete by 1667).^[5]
• 1805 – shunpike, a road avoiding tolls.^[6]
• 1823 – noun, the action of shunning.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To avoid something deliberately and habitually: He shuns publicity.^[2][18]
2. To keep away from a person; to ostracize: After the scandal his neighbours shunned him.^[2][5]
3. (obsolete, Old English–1275) To abhor or loathe.^[5][15][7]
4. (obsolete, Old English–1638) To seek safety from an enemy by hiding or flight.^[5][15]

Word family

• shunner
• shunnable
• shunpike
• unshunned

Related words

• scunner
• shunt

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
18. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins