Skimp
/skɪmp/noun
To spend, use, or give too little; to be stingy or insufficient.
Did you know?‘Skimp’ is probably a later English formation tied to the idea of being scanty or skimpy, and it became a verb for doing something in a miserly, cut-short way.
Etymological Timeline
Late 18th–19th Century
English
skimp
“To make something too small, too meager, or insufficient; to stint or spare too much.”
18th Century
English
skimpy
“Scanty, meager, or insufficient in amount or size.”
Middle English
English
skim
“To remove the top layer; also to pass over lightly or barely touch.”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skei-
“To cut, split, or separate.”