English
scare
Scare comes from Middle English sker ‘terror, fright’, and goes back to skerren.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skerren‘to frighten’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sker‘terror, fright’
- Englishearliest quotation 1948scare
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500skerren‘to frighten’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500sker‘terror, fright’
- Englishearliest quotation 1948scare
Earliest quotation: 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia: “But I admit the possibility of their being used…”
Every English word from Middle English skerren
Another origin of scare
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to swing, jump, move’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skirzijaną‘to shoo, scare off’reconstructed
- Old Norsec. 800–1350skirra‘to frighten’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scaren
- Englishtodayscare
Today it means
noun A minor fright.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English skerren / scare