Shriveled
/ˈʃrɪvəld/noun
Wrinkled, shrunken, or dried up from loss of moisture or vitality.
Did you know?Shriveled comes from the same Old English root as *shrive*, the act of hearing confession and granting absolution, because the word’s earliest sense was about becoming shrunken or wasted away, not just wrinkly.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sker-
“to cut, bend, or turn”
Old English
OE
scrīfian
“to impose penance, hear confession, or absolve”
Old English
OE
scriellan / scrincan
“to shrink, wither, or contract”
Middle English
ME
shrivelen
“to wrinkle, contract, or dry up”
Modern English
English
shriveled
“wrinkled, shrunken, or dried up”