schitten

== Middle English == === Alternative forms === schitte, shit, shitt, shitte schet, schete, schette, schetten, shet, shette (especially East Anglia, East Saxon, Southeast Midland) ssete, ssette (Kent); schutt (North Riding); schettyn (Promptorium Parvulorum); shutt, shutte (West Midland) === Etymology === Inherited from Old English sċyttan, from Proto-West Germanic *skuttjan, from *skut (“a border, a divider”) +‎ *-jan. Forms showing the development /y/ to /ɛ/ are more widely dispersed and less prone to being displaced by those showing a development to /i/ during the Middle English period, undoubtedly to avoid an embarrassing homophony with schite (“shit”); this also accounts for forms influenced by scheten (continued in Middle Scots schute). West Midland and Southern forms with /u/ (hence modern shut) represent a retraction of /y/ after /ʃ/. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈʃitən/ IPA(key): /ˈʃɛtən/ (especially East Anglia, East Saxon, Kent, Southeast Midland) IPA(key): /ˈʃutən/ (West Midland, Southern), /ʃut/ (Yorkshire) IPA(key): /ˈʃeːtən/, /ˈʃoːtən/ (influenced by scheten) === Verb === schitten (third-person singular simple present schitteth, present participle schittende, schittynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle schitted) (transitive) To shut or close (to cause to be closed): To bring something into a closed position. To block or seal an opening. To lock; to securely close (an object or location) (figuratively) To seal a purse or letter. (transitive) To enclose or surround: To confine or isolate (for security) To incarcerate; to forcibly confine. To protect or secure (from a danger) (transitive) To exclude or bar; to keep out. (intransitive) To shut or close (to become closed) (transitive, rare) To end or terminate. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Descendants ==== English: shut (dialectal shet) Middle Scots: schet, schute Scots: shut ==== References ==== “shitten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. “shut, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. Jordan, Richard (1974), Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica; 218)‎[1], The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 43, page 70.