"S" Word Origins

Scandinavian

Origin

Formed from "Scandinavia" plus the adjective/noun ending "-an."

scanger

Origin

According to A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: : "Much of the influence comes from London where the origins of the word 'skanger' can be found. I'm pretty certain this is a collapsed form of the word "scavenger" from a West Indian word used by the Caribbean community in London." Dolan's dictionary gives the West Indian slang word "skanker", meaning an untrustworthy or unreliable person, as a possible source of the word. Originally, in 1980s Dublin, it referred only to women but has become broadened to men in recent years.

Scanlan

Origin

A variant of the surname Scanlon.

Scanlon

Irish

An anglicized form of Irish Ó Scannláin, "descendant of Scannlán."

scant

Old Norse

From Old Norse skammr, meaning "short" — the same ancient root that gives us the idea of something falling just short.

scantling

Origin

Alteration of scantillon + -ling, from Old French escantillon (“sample pattern”) (Modern French échantillon). Later senses also influenced by similarity with scant.

scanty

Origin

From scant + -y.

scape

Origin

From Latin scāpus, from Doric Greek σκᾶπος (skâpos). Doublet of native English shaft.

scapegoat

Origin · 1500

Coined by the 16th-century Bible translator William Tyndale from "scape" (escape) + "goat," describing an ancient ritual in which a goat symbolically carried away a community's sins into the wilderness.

scapegrace

Origin

From scape (“(archaic) escape”) + grace (“grace of god”).

scapula

Late Latin

From Late Latin scapula, meaning "shoulder."

scar

Old French

From Old French escare, "scab," blending with a separate Middle English word for a cut or notch — ultimately from Greek eskhara, "scab left by a burn."

scarab

Latin

From Latin scarabaeus, "beetle."

Scarborough

Old Norse

From the Old Norse personal name Skarði combined with borg, "fortress."

scarbro

Origin

Variant of Scarborough.

scarce

French

From Old Northern French escars, "sparing, miserly," of uncertain deeper origin.

scarcely

Middle English

From Middle English scarcely, scarsly, scarsely, scarsliche, scarseliche, equivalent to scarce + -ly.

scarcity

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English scarsite, from Old Northern French escarsete; by surface analysis, scarce + -ity.

scare

Middle English

From Middle English sker/skere, "terror," related to an Old Norse verb for frightening.

scarecrow

Origin

Formed from "scare" plus "crow," since its original purpose was to scare crows off farmland.

scared

Origin

From scare + -ed.

scaredy

Origin

Formed by shortening the familiar playground insult "scaredy-cat," itself built from "scared" plus the informal ending "-y."

scarf

French

Probably from Old Northern French escarpe, a bag or pouch carried by pilgrims around the neck.

scarface

Origin

From scar + face.

scarious

Origin

French scarieux. Compare scary.

scarlet

Old French

From Old French escarlate, originally naming a fine woollen cloth, itself traced back through Arabic and possibly Byzantine Greek — the colour sense came later, from the cloth's typical dye.

scarlette

Origin

Rare spelling variant of Scarlett.

scarper

Origin

The verb is probably borrowed from Italian scappare (“to run away, escape, flee”), from Vulgar Latin *excappāre (“to escape”), from Latin ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + cappa (“(Late Latin) cape, cloak (usually with a hood); (Medieval Latin) cap; headwear”) (further etymology uncertain, probably ultimately from caput (“head”), from dialectal Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”)) + -āre (the present active infinitive of -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). Around World War I (1914–1918), the English word was influenced by the Cockney rhyming slang term Scapa Flow (“to go”). Doublet of escape and scape. The noun is derived from the verb.

scary

Origin

From "scare" plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y."

scat

Middle English

From Middle English scet, schat, from Old English sċeatt (“property, goods”) and Old Norse skattr (“wealth, treaure”); both from Proto-Germanic *skattaz (“cattle, kine, wealth”), from Proto-Indo-European *skatn-, *skat- (“to jump, skip, splash out”). Cognate with Scots scat (“tax, levy, charge, payment, bribe”), West Frisian skat (“treasure, darling”), Dutch schat (“treasure, hoard, darling, sweetheart”), German Schatz (“treasure, hoard, wealth, store, darling, sweetheart”), Swedish skatt (“treasure, tax, duty”), Icelandic skattur (“tax, tribute”), Latin scateō (“gush, team, bubble forth, abound”).

scathe

Origin

From Middle English scath, scathe [and other forms], from Old Norse skaði (“damage, harm; loss; death; murder”), from Proto-Germanic *skaþô (“damage, scathe; one who causes damage, injurer”, noun) (whence Old English sċeaþa, sċeaþu (“scathe, harm, injury”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₁t- (“damage, harm”). Cognate with German Schaden (“damage, harm”). cognates * Scots skaith * Dutch schade * German schaden * Norwegian skade * Swedish skada * Icelandic skaði * Polish szkoda * Russian шко́да (škóda) * Belarusian шко́дa (škóda) * Ukrainian шко́да (škóda)

scathy

Origin

From Middle English scathi, from Old English *scaþiġ, sċeaþiġ (“injurious”), equivalent to scathe + -y.

scatter

Middle English

From Middle English scateren, likely a variant of "shatter," and possibly ultimately imitative in origin.

scatterbrained

Origin

From scatter + brained.

scattergood

Origin

From scatter + good.

scattergun

Origin

From scatter + gun.

scatterling

Origin

From scatter + -ling.

scavenge

Origin

Formed as a back-formation from "scavenger."

scavenger

Middle English

From Middle English scavager, originally referring to a tax collector or inspector of goods, later reinterpreted as coming from "scavenge" plus "-er."

Scavo

Italian

Borrowed from Italian Scavo.

scenario

Italian

Borrowed from Italian scenario, from scena ("scene") — ultimately from Greek skēnē, meaning "stage."

scend

Origin

A corruption of send, influenced by ascend.

scene

Ancient Greek

From Latin scaena, "stage," from Greek skēnē — originally the backdrop structure behind ancient Greek performers.

scenery

Origin

From "scene" plus the noun-forming suffix "-ery."

scenic

Latin

From Latin scaenicus, "of the stage," from Greek skēnikós.

scent

Latin

From Old French sentir, "to feel, perceive, smell," ultimately from Latin sentire, "to feel" — the same root behind "sense."

sceptical

Origin

From "sceptic" plus the suffix "-al".

sceptre

Latin

From Old French sceptre, from Latin scēptrum, from Greek skēptron ("staff, baton"), from a root meaning "to lean on a staff".