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skill

noun
/skɪl//skɪɫ/UK

Etymology

From Middle English skilen (also schillen), partly from Old English scilian (“to separate, part, divide off”); and partly from Old Norse skilja (“to divide, separate”); both from Proto-Germanic *skilōną, *skiljaną (“to divide, limit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”). Cognate with Danish skille (“to separate, discard”), Swedish skilja (“to distinguish, differentiate, part”), Icelandic skilja (“to understand”), Low German schelen (“to make a difference; to be squint-eyed”), Dutch schelen (“to make a difference”).

  1. derived from *(s)kelH-✻
  2. inherited from *skilōną✻
  3. derived from skilja
  4. inherited from scilian
  5. inherited from skilen

Definitions

  1. A capacity to do something well

    A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.

    • Where did you pick up that skill?
    • With great skill, she navigated through the tricky passage.
    • Doing that coaching course not only taught me useful skills on the field, but also some important life skills.

  2. Discrimination

    Discrimination; judgment; propriety; reason; cause.

    • Him so I sought, and so at last I fownd Where him that witch had thralled to her will, In chaines of lust and lewde desyres ybownd And so transformed from his former skill, That me he knew not, nether his owne ill;
    • Methinks I should know you, and know this man; Yet I am doubtful; for I am mainly ignorant What place this is; and all the skill I have Remembers not these garments; nor I know not Where I did lodge last night. […]

  3. Knowledge

    Knowledge; understanding.

    • And Howell Dha shall goodly well indew The salvage minds with skill of just and trew;
    • […] This desert soil Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold; Nor want we skill or art from whence to raise Magnificence […]
    • 'I kenna whatna man ye are,' he says, 'but ye have the skill of lassies' hearts. Tell me truly, is there no way to win her to common love?'
  4. ›+ 9 more definitions

    1. Display of art

      Display of art; exercise of ability; contrivance; address.

      • Richard was well ſtored with men, the bones; and quickly got money, the ſinews of warre; by a thousand Princely ſkills gathering ſo much coin as if he meant not to return, becauſe looking back would unbowe his reſolution.

    2. Great, excellent.

      • Well, unfortunately for you, my dearest Waggipoos, I'm much more skill than you!
      • This game is skill. Remember that because it's going to sound really complicated.
      • And I am skiller than you.

    3. To set apart

      To set apart; separate.

    4. To discern

      To discern; have knowledge or understanding; to know how (to).

      • I cannot skill of these Thy ways […]

    5. To know

      To know; to understand.

      • As for the virginals I have none here that skill of them, except the young lord.
      • 17th century, Isaac Barrow, “On Industry in Our Particular Calling as Scholars,” […] to skill the arts of expressing our mind and imparting our conceptions with advantage, so as to instruct or persuade others […]

    6. To have knowledge or comprehension

      To have knowledge or comprehension; discern.

    7. To have personal or practical knowledge

      To have personal or practical knowledge; be versed or practised; be expert or dextrous.

    8. To make a difference

      To make a difference; signify; matter.

      • So then the whole scripture of God, being true, whence soever this be delivered and gathered, it skilleth not […]
      • […] I should have given’t you to-day morning, but as a madman’s epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much when they are delivered.
      • What skills it, if a bag of stones or gold About thy neck do drown thee?

    9. To spend acquired points in exchange for skills.

The neighborhood

Derived

cyberskills, de-skill, deskill, Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, everyday skill, game of skill, hard skill, life skill, metaskill, microskill, midskill, multiskill, multiskills, outskill, person having ordinary skill in the art, person of ordinary skill in the art, pseudoskill, reskill, re-skill, shilling, skilful, skillful, skillage, skill ceiling, skill crane, skill'd, skilled, skill floor, skillfull, skillfulness, skill issue, skill-less, skillless, skill-lessness, skillman, skill monkey, skillo, skill point, skill set, skillset · +15 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at skill. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01skill02acquired03birth04environment05ecosystem06network07fabric08workmanship

A definitional loop anchored at skill. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at skill

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA