Verb (third-person singular simple present skills, present participle skilling, simple past and past participle skilled)
- To set apart; separate.
- (chiefly dialectal) To discern; have knowledge or understanding; to know how (to).
- To know; to understand.
- (intransitive) To have knowledge or comprehension; discern.
- (intransitive) To have personal or practical knowledge; be versed or practised; be expert or dextrous.
- (intransitive, archaic) To make a difference; signify; matter.
Origin From Middle English skilen (also schillen), partly from Old English scylian, scielian (“to separate, part, divide off"); and partly from Old Norse skilja (“to divide, separate"); both from Proto-Germanic *skilÅnÄ…, *skiljanÄ… (“to divide, limit"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kalÇ-, *(s)kelÇ- (“to split, cut"). Cognate with Danish skille (“to separate, discard"), Swedish skilja (“to distinguish, differentiate, part"), Icelandic skilja (“to understand"), Dutch schelen (“to make a difference").
Noun (countable and uncountable, plural skills)
- Capacity to do something well; technique, ability. Skills are usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate.
Adjective (comparative more skill, superlative most skill)
- (UK, slang) great, excellent
Origin From Middle English skill, skille (also schil, schile), from Old English *scile and Old Norse skil (“a distinction, discernment, knowledge"), from Proto-Germanic *skilin (“separation, limit"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kalÇ-, *(s)kelÇ- (“to split, cut"). Cognate with Danish skel (“a separation, boundary, divide"), Swedish skäl (“reason"), Dutch verschil (“difference") and schillen (“to sperate the outer layer (schil) from the product", verb).
