Skate Is a Boot, a Fish, and a Kind of Fun
To skate is to glide on blades or wheels. A skate is also a flat cartilaginous fish, from a separate Norse word.
To skate is to glide over a surface on blades or wheels. The fish called a skate is a separate word from Old Norse *skata*, a flat ray-like creature — a coincidence, not a connection. The gliding word comes from Dutch *schaats*, and English mistook the singular for a plural, so a single skate should really be *a schaats*. *Skate on thin ice* means to take a dangerous risk, and *skate over* means to treat something too lightly.
- To glide on blades. *Ice skating.*
- A boot with blades or wheels. *A pair of skates.*
- A flat fish. *Skate wings.*
- Skate on thin ice — to risk. *On thin ice.*
- Dutch — *schaats*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | skate | Skate on it. |
| Past | skated | Skated. |
| Noun | skate | A skate. |
| Agent | skater | A skater. |
| Dutch | schaats | A skate. |
- They skated on the frozen lake.Sport.
- Skate wings with brown butter.Fish.
- You are skating on thin ice.Idiom.
Singulars English invented by mistake
- Skate — from Dutch *schaats*, mistaken for a plural
- Pea — from *pease*, which was already singular
- Cherry — from Old French *cherise*, heard as a plural
- Sherry — from *sherris*, the wine of Jerez
- Asset — from *assets*, from French *assez*, enough
Dutch *schaats*, a skate, from Old French *escache*, a stilt. The fish is from Old Norse *skata*.
Is the fish related to the boot?
No. The fish comes from Old Norse skata; the boot from Dutch schaats. They coincide by accident.
Why is skate a back-formation?
The Dutch singular schaats sounded like an English plural, so speakers created skate as a new singular.