When two cultures come together, the words of (they) languages compete for survival (存在). We can see this taking place early on in the history of English, following the Danish invasions (入侵) of Britain. The Danes spoke a language known Old Norse, and this had many words had a related (相关的) form in Old English. What would people end up (say)? Would the Danish settlers use the Old English words? Or would the Anglo-Saxons use the Old Norse ones?
(actual), the Old English and Old Norse words both survived, because people gave them (difference) meanings. This is what happened to skirt and shirt.
Shirt is found sometimes in late Old English (spelled scyrte), with the meaning of a short garment (衣服) worn by both men women. Skirt, from Old Norse, is known from the 1300s, and seems to have been used mainly for a woman's garment — the lower part of a dress. But the word could also (use) for the lower part of a man's robe or coat too.
During the Middle English period, shirt (become) increasingly used only for a man's garment, and skirt for a woman's. Today, women's clothes include shirts, and skirts are normal wear for men in many (country). Clothing such as the T-shirt is gender-neutral (不分性别的).
