| 1 | English | skill | Capacity to do something well; technique,... |
| 2 | Middle English | skill | — |
| 3 | Old Norse | skil | a distinction, discernment, knowledge |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | skilją | separation, limit |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kelH- | to cut; to split, to separate |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kel- | to bend, crook; bent, crooked; leg, heel, knee,... |