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Etymology and origin of the English word scar

English has two main nouns spelled scar: a steep rock or cliff, from Old Norse, and the mark left by a wound, from French.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

  • UK: /skɑː/[4]
  • US: /skɑɹ/[4]

scar1 cliff, rock

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
a1387, J. Trevisa, translation of Higden's Polychronicon
Borrowed from
Old Norse sker
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *sker-

Etymology

The rock is borrowed from Old Norse sker (“low reef, rock in the sea”),[1][2][3][5] in Middle English skerre, also spelled with -a-.[3][2] The Norse word comes from the Germanic root *sker-, to cut, seen in skera (“to cut”) and English shear,[1][2] from Proto-Indo-European *sker- (“to cut”),[6][7] perhaps from the notion of something cut off.[6] The same Norse word gave skerry[3][8] and, in Scottish Gaelic, sgeir (“rock in the sea”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rock or crag: a1387, in John Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon; this sense died out about 1600.[1][8] Etymonline finds the word in place-names from the 12th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense, a high, steep face of rock on a hillside, a precipice, is recorded from 1673,[1][6] and the Shorter Oxford notes it especially of the limestone cliffs of the Yorkshire Dales.[8] The English Dialect Dictionary records it, often as scaur, from Scotland and Ireland through the northern counties to Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire, for a bare place on a hillside, a cliff or a steep bank.[9] Following the Norse sense, a low or sunken rock in the sea is recorded from about 1712.[1][8] In 19th-century industry the word was also used for a hard cinder or lump of slag left in a furnace.[1][2][9]

Timeline

  • a1387 – a rock or crag (obsolete by about 1600).[1]
  • 1673 – a steep rock face on a hillside; a cliff.[1][6]
  • a1712 – a low or sunken rock in the sea.[1]
  • 1852 – a furnace cinder; clinker.[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A steep, bare face of rock on a hillside or mountain; a cliff or precipice.
  2. An isolated or projecting rock, especially a low rock in the sea.
  3. A hard cinder or lump of slag from a furnace; clinker.

scar2 mark of a healed wound

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
a1425 (c1395), Wycliffite Bible
Borrowed from
Old French escare
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek ἐσχάρα

Etymology

The mark of a wound is probably borrowed from Old French escare (“scab”), with loss of the first syllable,[1][3][8][2] from Late Latin eschara (“scab”),[6][10] from Ancient Greek ἐσχάρα (eskhárā, “hearth, brazier; scab formed after a burn”),[1][7][10] which is of uncertain origin.[6][10] Barnhart also names escara as a source.[10] The OED and Etymonline think the English sense was influenced by scarre (“crack, cut, incision”),[1][6][11] which the OED derives, perhaps, from skarð (“notch, gap”).[1] The same Late Latin word gave eschar.[12][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The trace left on the skin by a healed wound, sore or burn: a1425, in the later version of the Wycliffite Bible (about 1395).[1][10]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, a lasting fault or blemish left by some earlier event, is recorded from 1583,[1] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as "A mark made by a hurt or fire; a cicatrix", quoting Shakespeare and Milton.[13] The verb, "to mark with a scar", followed in 1555, in Richard Eden's translation of Peter Martyr,[1][2][10] and was used figuratively from 1593, in Thomas Nashe,[1][6] and of damage to land or objects from 1697.[1] The sense "to heal over, to form a scar" is recorded from 1888.[1][6] Botanists and naturalists have used the noun since 1793 for the mark left where a leaf, shell muscle or other part was attached.[1][2] Collins records the sense of a lasting emotional injury.[14]

Timeline

  • a1425 – the mark of a healed wound.[1][10]
  • 1532 – bring to a scar, to heal a wound (obsolete by 1629).[1]
  • 1555 – verb, to mark with a scar.[1][2]
  • 1583 – a lasting blemish (figurative).[1]
  • 1593 – verb, figurative.[1][6]
  • 1793 – a mark where a part was once attached (natural history).[1]
  • 1888 – verb, to heal over.[1][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A mark left on the skin or other tissue after a wound, burn or sore has healed.
  2. A lasting mental or emotional effect of a painful experience: The divorce left deep scars on both children.
  3. (botany) A mark on a stem where a leaf or other part was once attached.
  4. A mark of damage or wear on a surface; a blemish.

Verb

  1. To mark with a scar or scars; to disfigure or damage: Quarries had scarred the hillside.
  2. To leave a lasting harmful effect on someone.
  3. To form a scar; to heal leaving a scar.

Word family

  • scarless
  • scarred
  • unscarred
  • scar tissue

Usage notes

A third word scar, an adjective meaning "shy, easily frightened", especially of a horse, is Scots and northern English and comes from skjarr, the source also of scare.[1][8][2] In Scots and several English dialects scar is also simply a form of the verb scare.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

  • though · also from Old Norse
  • law · also from Old Norse
  • call · also from Old Norse
  • wrong · also from Old Norse
  • hit · also from Old Norse
  • likely · also from Old Norse
  • trust · also from Old Norse
  • die · also from Old Norse
Cite this entry

“Scar.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/scar. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·