Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “shade” come from?

Shade comes from Middle English schade, Old English sċeadu, and Proto-Germanic skadwaz, which originally meant shadow or darkness cast by an object blocking light.

shade (English): Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is...

Definitions

  1. Darkness where light, particularly sunlight, is...

Ancestry of “shade”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishschadeA shadow or a similar effect; A shade or...
2Old Englishsċeadushadow, shade; darkness; protection
3Proto-West Germanicskadushadow
4Proto-Germanicskaduz—
5Proto-Indo-European(s)ḱeh₃-darkness, shadow

Words derived from “shade”

  • shades
  • shady
  • shading
  • shader
  • lampshade
  • shadeless
  • eyeshade
  • countershading
  • shadiness
  • overshade
  • shadily
  • semishade
  • mirrorshades
  • shadest
  • shadeth
  • unshade
  • shadism
  • shadelike
  • shadeful
  • lampshaded
  • enshaded
  • multishade
  • shaden
  • shadable
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)ḱeh₃- →