Skites

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To boast or brag excessively about oneself or one's achievements; to speak with prideful self-satisfaction; to show off or parade one's abilities or possessions
2. To express oneself in an arrogantly proud manner about personal accomplishments or qualities; to engage in vaunting talk; to make ostentatious displays intended to attract attention
3. To talk in a conceited or smug way about what one has done or owns; to indulge in self-praise or exaggerated claims; to flaunt one's successes with pride and conceit

Etymology: Few words for bragging have such a crude family tree. "Skite" is related to "shit", and the link runs through the Old Norse verb "skíta", meaning "to defecate", which English inherited as the Middle English "skiten". The two words are doublets: they descend from the same Germanic root but split into different senses and forms over time. The bragging sense is not a separate invention but a later extension of the same stem. The source family also includes a second Old Norse verb, "skjóta", meaning "to shoot", which gave English the cousin "shoot". So "skite" sits between two unrelated-sounding relatives, one about dung and one about firing arrows, that trace back to a shared Proto-Germanic ancestor. "Skites" is simply the third-person singular present form of the verb "skite", so it describes one person doing the bragging, as in "he skites about his car."

Synonyms: brags, boasts, show-offs

Antonyms: modest, humble