Word for Wednesday: Shoe

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Our March Word for Wednesday theme is clothes. 

The word clothes comes from the Old English ‘claðas’ meaning ‘garments’. ‘Claðas’ is also the plural of ‘clað’ meaning ‘cloth’.

So far, we’ve looked at the words shirt, trousers, dress, and coat. Today’s word is shoe. 

Shoes are worn below the ankle and over the foot. A shoe usually has a flexible upper of leather or plastic, as well as a sturdy sole and heel. 

The word comes from the Old English ‘scoh’, from the Proto-Germanic ‘skokhaz’. 

A boot is a shoe that covers both the foot and the lower leg and the word dates to the early-fourteenth century. Boot comes from the Old French ‘bote’ and was originally only used to describe riding boots. The differentiation between shoe and boot is from around 1400. 

The phrase ‘to stand in someone’s shoes’ dates to 1767. 


31 Mar 2021
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