Shut

How to spell shut

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce shut

What does shut mean?

1. verbTo move something into a closed position so that an opening is blocked.
2. adjectiveIn a closed position; not open.

Shut in a sentence

• verb

  Please shut the door quietly when you leave the office.

• adjective

  The shop was already shut by the time we arrived.

• verb

  The heavy rain made everyone shut their windows in a hurry.

• adjective

  She kept the curtains shut all afternoon to block the sun.

Where does shut come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word descending from the Old English verb scyttan, which meant to put up a bolt or bar in order to fasten a door. That sense came from the same Germanic root that gives us the word for a bolt or projectile that is pushed across, related to the idea of shooting something into place. Over the centuries the spelling simplified from scyttan to the modern shut, and the meaning broadened from bolting a specific door to closing anything at all, from a book to a window. The word stayed firmly in the everyday core of English rather than being replaced by the Latin-derived close, and it keeps close family ties to shoot and shuttle, all built on the notion of a quick darting movement. Because it is short and phonetic, the spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years.

How the word is built

• shut (single Old English root: to bolt or close; no prefix or suffix)