Etymologically
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scarce

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈskɛəs/[1]
  • US: /ˈskɛɚs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English scars, also scarse,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman scars, a shortened form of escars,[4][5][6][7] beside Old French eschars, modern French échars.[8][2][7] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1160–74, meaning narrow, scant, in short supply, and also mean or stingy.[9] Most dictionaries trace it to Vulgar Latin *excarpsus (“plucked out”),[10][11][4][12][13] the past participle of *excarpō (“to pluck out”), an alteration of Latin excerpō (“to pick out, select”),[10][11][4][7] the source of excerpt.[4][14] The Latin verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and carpō (“to pluck”), the source of carpet.[4][8] The OED gives the immediate source as Vulgar Latin *scarsus, probably from the older *excarpsus,[8] and the American Heritage Dictionary glosses the Vulgar Latin form "narrow, cramped".[10] The same Romance word gave Old Occitan escars, Spanish escaso, Portuguese escasso and Italian scarso, and Middle Dutch schaers, now Dutch schaars, was borrowed from French.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Characterized by scarcity, said of a period of time: about 1290, in the South English Legendary.[8] The sense "restricted in quantity, scanty" follows in 1297, in Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle,[8] and Barnhart dates scars, not abundant, scant, meagre, to about 1300.[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was used both of things, scanty or in short supply, and of people, stingy or parsimonious;[7][8][5] Chaucer used scars in the sense "parsimonious".[15] The sense "stingy" lasted from about 1330 to 1640,[8] and the French use for a slight, almost calm wind, which the modern French échars still has, appears in English from about 1400 to 1600.[8] The main modern sense, of food and other goods existing in less than the needed quantity, is first found in Chaucer about 1374,[8] and "seldom met with, rare" in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew (1398); the OED notes that this is said chiefly of things that collectors seek, such as books, coins and prints.[8] Johnson (1755) gave the two senses "not plentiful" and "rare; not common".[16] The phrase make oneself scarce, to go away, was noted in 1771 as a current cant phrase;[2] the OED's first record is from 1809,[8] and Weekley took the phrase to be American.[17] The adverb, scarcely, hardly, is recorded from before 1325.[11][2] The American Heritage Dictionary notes how scarce and excerpt diverged in form from one Latin verb, the first by a tangled route through Vulgar Latin and French, the second taken straight from Latin.[14] In Scotland scarce of meant short of, and in Devon to keep scarce of someone was to keep away from them.[18]

Timeline

  • c. 1290 – of a period of time, marked by scarcity.[8]
  • 1297 – restricted in quantity, scanty (obsolete by 1596).[8]
  • c. 1300 – scars, not abundant, meagre.[11][2]
  • before 1325 – adverb, scarcely.[11]
  • c. 1330 – of people, stingy, miserly (obsolete by 1640).[8]
  • c. 1374 – of food and goods, in short supply, in Chaucer.[8]
  • 1398 – seldom found, rare, in Trevisa.[8]
  • c. 1400 – of wind, slight (obsolete by 1600).[8]
  • 1771 – make oneself scarce, a current cant phrase.[2]
  • 1832 – in collectors' names of butterflies and moths.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Not enough to meet the demand; in short supply: Clean water grew scarce during the drought.[19][12]
  2. Seldom found; rare, especially of things sought by collectors: a scarce early edition.[19][12][8]
  3. make oneself scarce: to leave, especially quickly, or keep out of the way.[19][8]
  4. (obsolete) Sparing with money; stingy or parsimonious.[12][8]

Adverb

  1. (archaic or literary) Scarcely, barely, hardly: She had scarce sat down when the bell rang.[19][12]

Word family

  • scarceness
  • scarcement
  • unscarce
  • scarcely

Usage notes

The phrase (as) scarce as hen's teeth means very rare;^(Word Histories|"(as) scarce as hen’s teeth: meaning and origin", 9 November 2023) Australian English has the humorous as scarce as rocking-horse manure, which Tréguer finds from 1937.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  4. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  14. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  15. ^ Skeat, W. W., ed. (1894), The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, vol. VI: Glossarial Index, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  18. ^ 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)
  19. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  20. ^ Tréguer, Pascal, Word Histories, wordhistories.net, p. "as scarce as rocking-horse manure: meaning and origin", 28 December 2021