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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

skill.

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

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/skɪl/[skɪɫ]Received-Pronunciation, US[skɪo̯][skɪʊ̯]
  1. A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.

    countable · uncountable
    Where did you pick up that skill?
    With great skill, she navigated through the tricky passage.
  2. A reusable configuration (prompt) that defines how an AI agent performs a specific task.

    countable · uncountable
  3. Discrimination; judgment; propriety; reason; cause.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  4. Knowledge; understanding.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  5. Display of art; exercise of ability; contrivance; address.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- Proto-Germanic *skilją Old Norse skilbor. Middle English skill English skill From Middle English skill, skille (also schil, schile), from Old Norse skil (“a distinction, discernment, knowledge”), from Proto-Germanic *skilją (“separation, limit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”). Cognate with Danish skel (“a separation, boundary, divide”), Swedish skäl (“reason”), Dutch verschil (“difference”) and schillen (“to separate the outer layer (schil) from the product”, verb).

adj/skɪl/[skɪɫ]Received-Pronunciation, US[skɪo̯][skɪʊ̯]
  1. Great, excellent.

    UK · slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- Proto-Germanic *skilją Old Norse skilbor. Middle English skill English skill From Middle English skill, skille (also schil, schile), from Old Norse skil (“a distinction, discernment, knowledge”), from Proto-Germanic *skilją (“separation, limit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“to split, cut”). Cognate with Danish skel (“a separation, boundary, divide”), Swedish skäl (“reason”), Dutch verschil (“difference”) and schillen (“to separate the outer layer (schil) from the product”, verb).

verb/skɪl/[skɪɫ]Received-Pronunciation, US[skɪo̯][skɪʊ̯]
  1. To set apart; separate.

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

    dialectal · transitive
  3. To know; to understand.

    Northern-England · Scotland · dialectal · rare · transitive
  4. To have knowledge or comprehension; discern.

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

    intransitive
  6. To make a difference; signify; matter.

    archaic · intransitive
  7. To spend acquired points in exchange for skills.

Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.