Skin comes from Proto Indo European sek, “to cut”, which is also the ancestor of saw, scythe, Saxon, segment, section, dissect, and others. Sek’s perfective form was sken, meaning “something cut off”; this became skintha in Proto Germanic. The Norse used the term for animal hide, since hide is something that is cut off (”skinned”) from an animal. When the Norse invaded and colonized Britain in the latter half of the first millenium, they brought their language with them. In fact, every English word that begins with sk- is ultimately derived from Old Norse. Their word skinn came in alongside the native Old English word hyd (hide).

The phonosemantics of skin seem to reflect more the “removal” sense than the “covering” sense of the word: directed source energy (”s”) is applied to a container (the skin itself?) (”k”), moving it up and out (short “i”) for a worthy purpose (”n”).

Thanks to Ali for suggesting this word of the day!

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