Etymology Explorer › Middle High German

Where does “schame” come from?

schame (Middle High German) comes from Old High German scama, from Proto-West Germanic *skamu, from Proto-Germanic skamō, from Proto-Indo-European (s)ḱeh₃- — darkness, shadow.

Ancestry of “schame”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old High Germanscama—
2Proto-West Germanic*skamu—
3Proto-Germanicskamōshame
4Proto-Indo-European(s)ḱeh₃-darkness, shadow

Words derived from “schame”

  • Fremdscham
  • Schamhaar
  • schamlos
  • Schamentzündung
  • Schamlosigkeit
  • schamhaft
  • Schambein
  • Scham
  • shamo
  • shamar
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)ḱeh₃- →