Etymology
1. c.1275, possibly Scand., from N.Gmc.
*kut-, or from O.Fr.
couteau "knife." Replaced O.E.
ceorfan "carve,"
sniþan, and
scieran "shear." Meaning "to be absent without excuse" is British university slang from 1794. The noun meaning "gash, incision" is attested from 1530; meaning "piece cut off" is from 1591; sense of "a wounding sarcasm" is from 1568. To
cut a pack of cards is from 1598.
Cutthroat (n.) is first recorded 1535.
Cutter "boat belonging to a ship of war" is attested from 1745, possibly so called from the way it "cuts" through the water.
Cutting edge (adj.) in fig. sense first recorded 1985.
2. From Middle English cutten, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, from Proto-Germanic *kutjaną, *kuttaną (“to cut”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *kwetwą (“meat, flesh”) (compare Old Norse kvett (“meat”)). Sometimes instead compared to French couteau, itself from Latin culter (“knife”).
3. Cf. Scots kut, kit (“to cut”)); also akin to Middle Swedish kotta (“to cut or carve with a knife”) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (“to cut or chip with a knife”), Swedish kuta, kytti (“a knife”)), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (“to cut”), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (“to cut”), Icelandic kuta (“to cut with a knife”), Old Norse kuti (“small knife”), Norwegian kyttel, kytel, kjutul (“pointed slip of wood used to strip bark”). Displaced native Middle English snithen (from Old English snīþan; compare German schneiden), which still survives in some dialects as snithe or snead. See snide. Adjective sense of "drunk" (now rare and now usually used in the originally jocular derivative form of half-cut) dates from the 17th century, from cut in the leg, to have cut your leg, euphemism for being very drunk. See: Proto-Germanic '
*kutjaną', Scots '
kut', Swedish '
kotta', Swedish '
kåta', Swedish '
kuta', Norwegian '
kutte', Norwegian, nynorsk '
kutte', Icelandic '
kuta'.
Verbs referencing "cut"
Norwegian
kutte.