Join free

skirt

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

skirt

  • /skɜːt/ UK
  • /skɚt/ US
  • /skɪɾt/ Scotland
  • /skøːt/ New Zealand, Wales
  • /skeːt/
  • [skeːθ̠]
  • /skɛːt/

Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)t

Where it comes from

From Middle English scyrt, skirt, skyrte, skyrthe, skyrtte, from Old Norse skyrta, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ (“apron; skirt”), from *skurtaz (“short; deficient”), from *skertaną (“to cut off”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off; to divide”). Doublet of shirt.

Cognates

Cognate with Yola shoorth, skoorth (“shirt”), North Frisian Sjürt (“shirt”), Saterland Frisian Schoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjorte (“shirt”), Faroese skjúrta (“shirt”), Icelandic skyrta (“shirt”), Swedish skjorta (“shirt”), Irish sciorta (“skirt; strip”), Welsh sgert (“skirt”).

noun skirts

  1. countable, uncountable A separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs. "I like purple best," said Maida. "And old Schlegel has promised to make it for $8. It's going to be lovely. I'm going to have a plaited skirt and a blouse coat trimmed with a band of galloon under a white cloth collar with two rows of—"
  2. countable, uncountable A similar part of a dress or robe, etc., that hangs below the waist. The petticoats and skirts ordinarily worn are decidedly the heaviest part of the dress ; hence it is necessary that some reform should be effected in these.
  3. countable, uncountable A loose edging to any part of a dress. A narrow lace, or a small skirt of fine ruffled linen, which runs along the upper part of the stays before, and crosses the breast, being a part of the tucker, is called the modesty piece.
  4. countable, uncountable A petticoat.
  5. countable, derogatory, slang, uncountable A woman. "Mate," said the Cockney, after we'd finished about half the bottle, "it comes to me that we're a couple o' blightin' idjits to be workin' for a skirt." "What d'ya mean?" I asked, taking a pull at the bottle. "Well, 'ere's us, two red-blooded 'e-men, takin' orders from a lousy little frail, 'andin'
  6. UK, colloquial, uncountable Women collectively, in a sexual context.
  7. UK, colloquial, uncountable Sexual intercourse with a woman.
  8. countable, uncountable A border; edge; margin; extreme part of anything. here in the skirts of the forest, like fringe upon a petticoat.
  9. countable, uncountable, of animals A diaphragm, or midriff.

verb skirts · skirting · skirted

  1. To be on or form the border of. The plain was skirted by rows of trees.
  2. To move around or along the border of; to avoid the center of. skirt a mountain
  3. To cover with a skirt; to surround. skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold
  4. figuratively To avoid or ignore (something); to manage to avoid (something or a problem); to skate by (something). Near-synonym: circumvent

    Similar: circumvent

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: surround, parry, doll, duck, hedge, border, sidestep, fudge, wench, dodge, circumvent, evade, elude, dame, chick, put off

Translations

Every language

noun article of clothing

Españolfalda, enaguas, pollera, saya
한국어치마 chima, 스커트 seukeoteu
日本語スカート sukāto
中文裙子 qúnzi, 裙 qún
हिन्दीस्कर्ट skarṭ
Kiswahilisketi
Portuguêssaia
Françaisjupe
DeutschRock
Italianogonna
Ελληνικάφούστα foústa
Românăfustă
Русскийю́бка júbka
Tiếng Việtváy
العربيةتَنُّورَة tannūra, جُوب jūb, خَرَّاطَة ḵarrāṭa, وَزَرَة wazara, جُونِلَّة jūnilla
עבריתחֲצָאִית khatsa'ít

noun part of dress that hangs below waist

Españolfalda, enaguas, pollera, saya
हिन्दीदामन dāman
Portuguêssaia
Françaisjupe
DeutschRock
Italianogonna
Ελληνικάφούστα foústa
Русскийю́бка júbka, пола́ polá

noun loose edging to any part of a dress

Tiếng Việtvạt

noun slang: woman

Portuguêsrabo-de-saia
DeutschRock, Weiberrock
Ελληνικάφουστάνι foustáni
Русскийю́бка júbka

noun border, edge, margin

中文邊緣 /边缘 biānyuán, 裙邊 /裙边 qúnbiān
Portuguêsborda
DeutschSaum
Русскийграни́ца graníca

verb to be on or from the border of

Portuguêsrodear, contornar, beirar
Deutschumgehen, umrunden
Italianocontornare
Русскийограни́чивать ograníčivatʹ

verb to move around, to avoid the centre

Русскийобходить obxoditʹ

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"skirt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/skirt. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

skirt. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/skirt

Chicago

"skirt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/skirt.

BibTeX
@misc{skirt_2026,
  title = {skirt},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/skirt},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}