short

From Old English sceort (short, not long), from Proto-Germanic *skurtaz, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to cut.' Something 'short' is something that has been cut off before it reaches full length. From the basic idea of small length, English extended short into time (a short while), quantity (run short of money), and character (a shortcoming). It builds a large family of plain Germanic compounds: shorten, shortage, shortfall, shortcoming, shortcut, shorthand. The root is purely Germanic — its Latin cousin for 'cut short' is curt, and its 'brief' synonym is the Latin root brev (brief, abbreviate).