"outer border, section or part that 'skirts' along the edge or boundary," 1590s, from out- + skirt (n.) in its secondary sense of "edge, border." Now only in plural, outskirts; originally in Spenser, and singular.
they built a factory on the outskirts of the city
outset
outshine
outside
outsider
outsized
outskirt
outsmart
outsource
outspend
outspoken
outspread