| 1 | English | short | Having a small distance from one end or edge to... |
| 2 | Middle English | schort | short; short , brief, quick; ephemeral, having a... |
| 3 | Old English | sċeort | — |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | skurt | short; lacking, deficient |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | skurtaz | short; lacking, deficient |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)ḱer- | dung, manure, filth; manure, dung, filth |