shield

Shield comes from Middle English scheld or shelde, from Old English scield, from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kelH- meaning 'cut, split.' The related verb form comes from Middle English schilden, from Old English sċildan.

The word has stayed remarkably close to its ancient sense throughout — a flat, split piece of material used for protection, from Old English straight through to today's English.

It shares its root with a wide family of Germanic and Slavic words for shield, including German Schild, Swedish sköld, and Russian щит (ščyt) — all descending from that same Proto-Indo-European idea of splitting or cutting, likely referring to how the object was made from a cut piece of wood.