# short
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English schort, short, from Old English sċeort, sċort (“short”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurt, from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-.
Cognate with shirt, skirt, curt, Scots short, schort (“short”), French court, Dutch kort, German kurz, Old High German scurz (“short”) (whence Middle High German schurz), Old Norse skorta (“to lack”) (whence Danish skorte), Albanian shkurt (“short, brief”), Latin curtus (“shortened, incomplete”) and Proto-Slavic *kortъkъ. Doublet of curt. More at shirt.

### Pronunciation

    (with the horse-hoarse merger) enPR: shôrt
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ʃɔːt/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ʃoɹt/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* (St. Louis) IPA: [ʃɑɹt]
* (DE) IPA: /ˈʃoːrt/, /ˈʃoːɻt/
* (General Australian, New Zealand, Standard Southern British) IPA: /ʃoːt/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
    (without the horse–hoarse merger)
* (rhotic) IPA: /ʃɔɹt/
* (non-rhotic) IPA: /ʃɔːt/
* (Dublin, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA: /ˈʃɒːɹt/

### Adjective

short (comparative shorter, superlative shortest)
* Having a small distance from one end or edge to another, either horizontally or vertically.
* (of a person) Of comparatively small height.
** 2022 September 22, HarryBlank, “Mind Over Matter”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 23 May 2024:Nhung Ngo had the shortest legs at Site-43. She was the shortest member of staff, two inches beneath the positively elfin Delfina Ibanez, and yet Lillian found her inexplicably difficult to shake. Power-walking down the halls didn't do the trick, as it always did when Wettle-dodging, since the diminutive headshrink kept disappearing into commissaries or service corridors or even other people's offices and emerging, smiling, in front of her.
* Having little duration.
    Antonym: long
    Our meeting was a short six minutes today. Every day for the past month it’s been at least twenty minutes long.
** 1980, Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave, page 230:The results of this generalized speedup of the corporate metabolism are multiple: shorter product life cycles, more leasing and renting, more frequent buying and selling, more ephemeral consumption patterns, […]
** 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist‎, volume 100, number 2, page 172:Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
** 2025 January 23, Kristen Rogers, “People with ADHD have shorter life expectancy and higher risk of mental health issues, study finds”, in CNN‎:Having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is associated with a shorter life expectancy and a greater risk of mental health issues, according to a new study of more than 30,000 people with the disorder in the United Kingdom.
* (followed by for) Of a word or phrase, constituting an abbreviation (for another) or shortened form (of another).
    "Phone" is short for "telephone" and "asap" short for "as soon as possible".
* (cricket, of a fielder or fielding position) that is relatively close to the batsman.
* (cricket, of a ball) bowled so that it bounces relatively far from the batsman.
* (golf, of an approach shot or putt) that falls short of the green or the hole.
* (gambling) Of betting odds, offering a small return for the money wagered.
* (baking, of pastries, metallurgy) Brittle, crumbly. (See shortbread, shortcake, shortcrust, shortening, hot short, cold-short.)
** 2013, Heston Blumenthal, Historic Heston, →ISBN, page 122:I chose to interpret the references to butter and sugar as indicating that a short pastry was required. (Later editions suggest a biscuit-like texture.)
* Abrupt; brief; pointed; petulant.
    He gave a short answer to the question.
** 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:“We are short to-night!” cries the woman, with a propitiatory laugh. “Short and snappish we are! […] ”
* Limited in quantity; inadequate; insufficient; scanty.
    a short supply of provisions
* Insufficiently provided; inadequately supplied, especially with money; scantily furnished; lacking.
    to be short of money
    I'd lend you the cash but I'm a little short at present.
    The cashier came up short ten dollars on his morning shift.
* Deficient; less; not coming up to a measure or standard.
    an account which is short of the truth
** 1829, Walter Savage Landor, “The Emperor Alexander and Capo D'Istria”, in Imaginary Conversations, volume IV:[…] the people are worn down with taxes, and hardly anything short of an invasion could rouse them again to war.
* (colloquial) Undiluted; neat.
** 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:“There ain’t no drain of nothing short handy, is there?” said the Chicken, generally. “This here sluicing night is hard lines to a man as lives on his condition.” Captain Cuttle proffered a glass of rum […]
** 2003, Linda Chaikin, Desert Rose:Delance raised his beer and watched Hoadly throw down another swig of hard stuff. "Take it short if you want to make it over the mountain tonight."
* (obsolete) Not distant in time; near at hand.
** 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18:Marinell was sore offended / That his departure thence should be so short.
** 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:He commanded those who were appointed to attend him to be ready by a short day.
** 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:But, alas! he who escapes from death is not pardoned; he is only reprieved, and reprieved to a short day.
* (finance) Being in a financial investment position that is structured to be profitable if the price of the underlying security declines in the future.
    Coordinate term: long
    short position
    I'm short in General Motors because I think their sales are plunging.
* (by extension) Doubtful of, skeptical of.
* (finance, dated) Of money: given in the fewest possible notes, i.e. those of the largest denomination.
    Antonym: long
** 1909, James Blyth, The member for Easterby, page 296:He pulled a cheque-book from his pocket, and drew for two hundred thousand pounds. “I'll take it short,” he said […]

#### Usage notes

* (having a small distance between ends or edges): Short is often used in the positive vertical dimension and used as is shallow in the negative vertical dimension; in the horizontal dimension narrow is more commonly used.

#### Synonyms

* (having a small distance between ends or edges): low, narrow, slim, shallow
* (of a person, of comparatively little height): little, pint-sized, petite, titchy (slang)
* (having little duration): brief, concise
* (constituting an abbreviation (for)): an abbreviation of, a short form of

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “having a small distance between ends or edges”): tall, high, wide, broad, deep, long
* (antonym(s) of “of a person, of comparatively little height”): tall
* (antonym(s) of “having little duration”): long
* (antonym(s) of “cricket, of a fielder or fielding position, relatively close to the batsman”): long
* (antonym(s) of “financial position expecting falling value”): long

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Adverb

short (not comparable)
* Abruptly, curtly, briefly.
    They had to stop short to avoid hitting the dog in the street.
    He cut me short repeatedly in the meeting.
    The boss got a message and cut the meeting short.
* Unawares.
    The recent developments at work caught them short.
* Without achieving a goal or requirement.
    His speech fell short of what was expected.
* (cricket, of the manner of bounce of a cricket ball) Relatively far from the batsman and hence bouncing higher than normal; opposite of full.
* (finance) With a negative ownership position.
    We went short most finance companies in July.

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

short (plural shorts)
* A short circuit.
* A short film.
** 2012 July 12, Sam Adams, AV Club, Ice Age: Continental Drift‎:Preceded by a Simpsons short shot in 3-D—perhaps the only thing more superfluous than a fourth Ice Age movie—Ice Age: Continental Drift finds a retinue of vaguely contemporaneous animals coping with life in the post-Pangaea age.
** A short-form vertical video.
*** A YouTube video that is less than one minute long.
* A short version of a garment in a particular size.
    38 short suits fit me right off the rack.
    Do you have that size in a short?
* (baseball) A shortstop.
    Jones smashes a grounder between third and short.
* (finance) A short seller.
    The market decline was terrible, but the shorts were buying champagne.
* (finance) A short sale or short position.
    He closed out his short at a modest loss after three months.
* A summary account.
** c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:For the short and the long is, our play is preferred.
* (phonetics) A short sound, syllable, or vowel.
** 1877, Henry Sweet, A Handbook of Phonetics, page 18:If we compare the nearest conventional shorts and longs in English, as in ‘bit’ and ‘beat’, ‘not’ and ‘naught’, we find that the short vowels are generally wide (i, ɔ), the long narrow (i, ɔ), besides being generally diphthongic as well.
* (programming) An integer variable having a smaller range than normal integers; usually two bytes long.
* (US, slang) An automobile; especially in crack shorts, to break into automobiles.
** 1975, Mary Sanches, Ben G. Blount, Sociocultural Dimensions of Language Use, page 47:For example, one addict would crack shorts (break and enter cars) and usually obtain just enough stolen goods to buy stuff and get off just before getting sick.
** 1982, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice, Career Criminal Life Sentence Act of 1981: Hearings, page 87:[…] list of all crimes reported by these 61 daily criminals during their years on the street is: theft (this includes shoplifting; "cracking shorts", burglary and other forms of stealing), dealing, forgery, gambling, confidence games (flim-flam, etc.) […]

#### Descendants

* → Cantonese: short
* → Italian: short
* → Japanese: ショート (shōto)
** → Mandarin: 秀逗 (xiùdou)
** → Hakka: 秀逗 (sió-tò)
* → Maltese: xort

#### See also

* shorts

### Verb

short (third-person singular simple present shorts, present participle shorting, simple past and past participle shorted)
* (transitive) To cause a short circuit in (something).
* (intransitive, of an electrical circuit) To short circuit.
* (transitive, informal) To provide with an amount smaller than that agreed or labeled; to shortchange.
    This is the third time I've caught them shorting us.
** 1991 August 24, Maridee BonaDea, quoting Brian Freeman, “Pomo Afro Homos On The Road”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 6, page 9:It's hard now. The NEA, state and city budgets are messed up and it's the small artists like us that are the ones getting shorted.
* (transitive, business) To sell something, especially securities, that one does not own at the moment for delivery at a later date in hopes of profiting from a decline in the price; to sell short.
* (obsolete) To shorten.

#### Descendants

* → Maltese: xxortja

#### Translations
### Preposition

short
* Deficient in.
    We are short a few men on the second shift.
    He's short common sense.
* (finance) Having a negative position in.
    I don’t want to be short the market going into the weekend.

#### Synonyms

* (deficient in): lacking, short on

#### Translations
### Derived terms

* a day late and a dollar short
* a few clowns short of a circus
* a few fries short of a Happy Meal
* a few spanners short of a tool box
* a fry short of a Happy Meal
* a short drop and a sudden stop
* at short notice
* at short sight
* bib short
* boy-short
* bring up short
* castle short
* caught short
* cold short, cold-short
* come short
* come up short
* cut short
* down to the short strokes
* draw the short straw
* Elliot's short-tailed shrew
* fall short
* few cards short of a full deck
* few sandwiches short of a picnic
* for short
* fry short of a Happy Meal
* go short
* gray short-tailed opossum
* greater short-toed lark
* have a short memory
* have someone by the short and curlies
* have someone by the short hairs
* hold short
* hot short, hot-short
* in short
* in short order
* in short pants
* in short supply
* in short trousers
* in the short run
* in the short term
* Korean-style short ribs
* let one's short back and sides down
* life is short
* life is too short
* life's too short
* long and short stitch
* long run for a short slide
* long storey short
* long story short
* make short work of
* make the road shorter
* one brick short of a full load
* one card short of a full deck
* one fry short of a Happy Meal
* one short
* on short notice
* pull short
* pull short up
* pull up short
* red-short
* ride the short bus
* rule of the shorter term
* run short
* sell oneself short
* sell short
* short 20th century
* short a
* short accounts make long friends
* short-acting
* short and
* short and curlies
* short and sweet
* short-answer
* short arm
* short-arse
* short-ass
* short back and sides
* short ballot
* short-billed dowitcher
* short-billed marsh wren
* short bit
* short black
* short block
* short bowel syndrome
* shortbread
* short break
* short bus
* shortcake
* short-chain
* short change
* short-change, shortchange
* short ciliary nerve
* short circuit operator
* short-circuit operator
* short circuit, short-circuit
* short-coat
* short code
* short commons
* short con
* short-corner
* short corner
* short cross
* short cut
* short-cut
* short-dated
* short-distance
* short division
* short down
* short dozen
* short drink
* short drop
* short e
* short-eared dog
* short-eared fox
* short-eared owl
* short-eared zorro
* shorten
* short end
* short end of the stick
* short ess
* short exact sequence
* short eyes
* short-faced bear
* short-faced kangaroo
* shortfall
* short-fall
* short fetched
* short-fetched
* short filename, short file name
* short finals
* short-finned eel
* short for
* short fuse
* shortgevity
* Short Green
* short gross
* short-haired
* short-haired bumblebee
* short hairs
* short hand
* shorthand
* short-hand
* short-handed
* short handed
* short-handedly
* short-handedness
* short-haul
* short haul
* short head
* short-head seahorse
* Short Heath
* short-horned grasshopper
* short hose
* short hundred
* short i
* shortie
* short illative
* short king
* short leash
* short leg
* short-legged
* short-leggedness
* short-lined chocolate
* shortline, short line
* short list
* short-list
* short-lived
* short-livedness
* short loin
* shortly
* short man syndrome
* short message service
* short meter
* short-neck'd
* short-necked
* shortness
* short notice
* short o
* short of
* short of a length
* short of breath
* short on looks
* short oo
* short order
* short-order
* short-order chef
* short out
* short pants
* short pass
* short passive
* short pastry
* short-period
* short-period comet
* short period comet
* short plate
* short pocosin
* short posterior ciliary artery
* short pull
* short-range
* short reckonings make long friends
* short rib
* short ribs
* short-run
* short run
* short s
* short scale
* short-sea shipping
* short sell, short-sell
* short sharp shock
* short sheet
* short-sheet
* short short
* short shorts
* short-short story
* short short story
* short shrift
* short sight
* short-sighted
* short-sightedly
* short-sightedness
* short six
* short-sleeper
* short sleeper
* short-sleeved
* short spar
* short-spoken
* short squeeze
* short stack
* short stacked
* short-staff
* short-staffed
* short-staffing
* short stop
* short-stop
* short story
* short straddle
* short strokes
* short stuff
* short subject
* short sweetening
* short sword
* short-tack
* short tag
* short-tailed chinchilla
* short-tailed fox
* short-tailed hawk
* short-tailed parrot
* short-tailed weasel
* short tandem repeat
* short temper
* short-tempered
* short-term
* short term
* short-termer
* short-termism
* short-termist
* short-term memory
* short-termness
* short-time
* short time
* short-timer
* short title
* short-toed eagle
* short-toed snake eagle
* short-toed treecreeper
* short ton
* short-track
* short track
* short-track speed skating
* short twentieth century
* short u
* short view
* short vowel
* short-wave
* short wave, shortwave
* short weight
* short whist
* short-winded
* short-witted
* shorty
* step short
* stop short
* take a long walk off a short pier
* take a long walk on a short pier
* taken short
* take someone up short
* the long and short
* thick as two short planks
* three fries short of a Happy Meal
* three stops short of Dagenham
* time is short

### Anagrams

* Stohr, horst, trosh, Horst, hotṛs, Roths, thors, Stroh, hotrs

## Albanian
### Alternative forms

* shortë, shorte

### Etymology

Borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin sors, sortem.

### Noun

short m (plural shórte, definite shórti, definite plural shórtet) (uncountable)
* drawing (action where the outcome is selected by chance using a draw)
* (originally southern Gheg, Tirana) sweepstakes, lot, portion
* (in the plural) stake, share, inheritance
    Synonym: hise
* (figurative) luck
    Synonym: fat
* (figurative) spouse, consort
    Synonyms: bashkëshort, burrë, grua
* (archaic) fortune-telling

#### Derived terms

* shortar
* shortare
* shortari
* shortas
* shorti
* shortoj

### References

* ↑ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “short”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 426

### Further reading

* FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎, 1980
* “short”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
* Mann, S. E. (1948) “short”, in An Historical Albanian–English Dictionary, London: Longmans, Green & Co., page 488

## Chinese
### Etymology

From English short, in the sense of a short circuit. Cognate with Taiwanese Hokkien 秀逗.

### Pronunciation

* Cantonese (Jyutping): sot$^1$ / sok$^1$
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: sot$^1$ / sok$^1$
*** Yale: sōt / sōk
*** Cantonese Pinyin: sot$^7$ / sok$^7$
*** Guangdong Romanization: sod$^1$ / sog$^1$
*** Sinological IPA : /sɔːt̚⁵/, /sɔːk̚⁵/
* sot1 - Hong Kong;
* sok1 - Guangzhou.

### Adjective

short
* (Cantonese) insane; crazy
    short short哋 [Cantonese] ― sot$^1$ sot$^1$ dei$^{6-2}$ [Jyutping] ― a bit crazy
** 1991, Fight Back to School:
       jau$^5$ du$^1$ m$^4$ ze$^3$ nei$^5$ laa$^1$, sot$^1$ gaa$^4$ nei$^5$? [Jyutping]
       I'm not lending it [my homework to you] even if I have done it. You're crazy, aren't you?

#### Synonyms

| Variety | Location | Words |
| Classical Chinese | Classical Chinese | 痴, 狂, 癲 |
| Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 瘋, 狂, 瘋癲, 瘋狂 |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Beijing | 瘋 |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Taiwan | 瘋 |
| Northeastern Mandarin | Singapore | 神經病, 有毛病 |
| Jiaoliao Mandarin | Yantai (Muping) | 痴 |
| Central Plains Mandarin | Luoyang | 瘋 |
| Central Plains Mandarin | Xi'an | 瘋 |
| Lanyin Mandarin | Ürümqi | 瘋 |
| Southwestern Mandarin | Wuhan | 八面威, 八面 |
| Southwestern Mandarin | Guiyang | 瘋 |
| Southwestern Mandarin | Liuzhou | 癲 |
| Jianghuai Mandarin | Yangzhou | 瘋 |
| Cantonese | Guangzhou | 癲, 黐線, 黐筋, 黐孖筋, short |
| Cantonese | Hong Kong | 癲, 黐線, 黐筋, 黐孖筋, 黐膠花, short, 黐總掣, 黐大掣 |
| Cantonese | Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu) | 癲, 黐線 |
| Cantonese | Penang (Guangfu) | 癲, 黐線 |
| Cantonese | Singapore (Guangfu) | 癲, 黐線 |
| Gan | Nanchang | 瘋 |
| Hakka | Meixian | 癲 |
| Eastern Min | Fuzhou | 癲, 癲脬 |
| Southern Min | Xiamen | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Quanzhou | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Yongchun | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Zhangzhou | 痟, 魔 |
| Southern Min | Zhao'an | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Tainan | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Penang (Hokkien) | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Singapore (Hokkien) | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Manila (Hokkien) | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Chaozhou | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Shantou | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Shantou (Chenghai) | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Shantou (Chaoyang) | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Jieyang | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Haifeng | 癲 |
| Southern Min | Singapore (Teochew) | 痟 |
| Southern Min | Leizhou | 痟神 |
| Southern Min | Wenchang | 發痟 |
| Southern Min | Singapore (Hainanese) | 發痟 |
| Puxian Min | Putian | 痟 |
| Puxian Min | Xianyou | 痟 |
| Wu | Shanghai | 痴 |
| Wu | Shanghai (Chongming) | 痴 |
| Wu | Danyang | 瘋 |
| Wu | Hangzhou | 瘋 |
| Wu | Wenzhou | 癲 |
| Wu | Jinhua | 癲 |
| Xiang | Loudi | 瘋 |

### Verb

short
* (Cantonese, of people) to become insane; to become crazy
* (Cantonese, of electronics) to malfunction
* (Cantonese, electrical engineering) to short-circuit

### References

* English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

## French
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ʃɔʁt/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

short m (plural shorts)
* shorts, short trousers (UK)
    Avec un pantalon, j’ai moins froid aux jambes qu’avec un short.With trousers on, my legs are not as cold as with shorts on.

### Further reading

* “short”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Italian
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English short.

### Noun

short m (invariable)
* short (short film etc.)

## Middle English
### Adjective

short
* Alternative form of schort

## Portuguese
### Alternative forms

* shorts

### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃɔʁ.t͡ʃi/ [ˈʃɔh.t͡ʃi]
* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃɔʁ.t͡ʃi/ [ˈʃɔh.t͡ʃi]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /ˈʃɔɾ.t͡ʃi/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /ˈʃɔʁ.t͡ʃi/ [ˈʃɔχ.t͡ʃi]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /ˈʃɔɻ.te/
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈʃɔɾ.tɨ/

### Noun

short m (plural shorts)
* (Brazil) shorts (pants that do not go lower than the knees)
    Synonyms: calção, calções, shorts

## Spanish
### Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English shorts.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈʃoɾt/ [ˈʃoɾt̪]
* Rhymes: -oɾt
* Syllabification: short

### Noun

short m (plural shorts)
* shorts

#### Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

### Further reading

* “short”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10