The orthographic sequence “irt” concluding a word forms a relatively small subset of the English lexicon. Examples include “shirt,” a garment worn on the upper body, “flirt,” denoting playful romantic behavior, and “dirt,” referring to soil or unclean matter. These terms demonstrate the diversity of meanings encapsulated by words with this ending.
While not constituting a distinct grammatical category or sharing a single etymological origin, the grouping of such words can be useful for linguistic analysis, vocabulary building, and word games. Understanding the shared ending facilitates recognizing patterns in pronunciation and spelling. Historically, some words in this group share roots in Germanic languages, while others have evolved from different origins.