*(s)ker-

This is one of several Indo-European roots that was about the idea of:

cutting, slicing

The most obvious English family members are sharp and shear and share, but also short and shirt and shard belong to this family, and they’re simply about the idea of “cut”.
Another branch are words like scrabble, scrimmage, scar and screen.

On the Latin side of the family tree we have curtus (short) which is the base of words like curtail or curt. And also the words based on carne (carnivore, incarnate, carnage,…)belong to this family, with carne originally referring to a piece of meat that you’d “cut” from the animal.

Here’s an incomplete list of English relatives:

  • sharp (“cuts well”)
  • shear (“cut”)
  • share (“cut, divide”)
  • shard (“a slice”)
  • short, shirt, skirt (“something that’s cut”)
  • screen (“cut from wood”)
  • scrabble (“originally: scratching, small cuts”)
  • score (“a mark you cut”)
  • carne, carnivore, carnage, … (“slice of meat”)
  • curt, curtail (“cut short”)
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This root gave rise to 37+ German words.

Word Family 37 words

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