# skill

Pronunciation: say "SKIL" /skɪl/

## Noun

1. An ability to do something well, typically gained through training or practice rather than inborn talent.
   - Simple: Something you can do well, usually because you learned or practiced it.
   - _Negotiating a fair deal is a skill that improves with experience._
   - _Years of training sharpened her skills as a surgeon._

## Verb

3. To spend points you have earned in order to gain new abilities or upgrades in a game.
   - Simple: To spend points you earned to unlock or improve abilities in a game.
   - _Players often skill defensive abilities before the final boss._
   - _She skilled her mage into frost spells after the update._

## Adjective

4. Excellent or really impressive. *(slang, UK)*
   - Simple: Very good or excellent.
   - _The whole concert was skill from start to finish._
   - _My cousin's new trampoline is well skill; we spent the whole afternoon bouncing on it._

## Noun

2. A display of art; the exercise of ability; clever contrivance or adroitness. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A display of art or ability, or a clever plan or trick.
5. Knowledge or comprehension of a subject. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Knowledge or understanding of something.
6. The faculty of discernment or sound judgment; a sense of what is proper or reasonable. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Good judgment or reason.

## Verb

7. To know or understand something, or to know how to do it. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To know or understand something (an old or local use).
8. To make a difference to a situation; to be significant or matter. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To matter, or to make a difference to something.
9. To set something apart; to separate it from others. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To set something apart and separate it from the rest.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–6** — From Middle English "skill," borrowed from Old Norse "skil" meaning a distinction, discernment, or knowledge. This traces back to Proto-Germanic and ultimately a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split or cut," with cognates like Swedish "skäl" (reason) and Dutch "verschil" (difference).
**Meanings 3, 7–9** — Two sources fed Middle English "skilen": Old English "scilian" (to separate, divide off) and Old Norse "skilja" (to divide, separate). Both trace to Proto-Germanic and, further back, to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to split or cut." Related words include Swedish "skilja" (to distinguish) and Icelandic "skilja" (to understand).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/skill (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).