different between scathe vs scath

English

Alternative forms

• scath (dialectal or obsolete)
• skaith, scaith (Scotland)

Etymology 1

From Middle English scathe, from Old English sceaþa (also sceaþu (“scathe, harm, injury”), from Proto-Germanic *skaþô (“damage, scathe”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh?t- (“damage, harm”). Cognate with Scots skaith.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ske?ð/, /ske??/
• Rhymes: -e?ð, -e??

Noun

scathe (countable and uncountable, plural scathes)

1. (archaic or dialect) Harm; damage; injury; hurt; misfortune; waste.

Derived terms

• scatheful
• scatheless
• scathely

For quotations using this term, see Citations:scathe.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English scathen, skathen, from Old English sceaþian, scaþan (“to scathe, hurt, harm, injure”) and Old Norse skaða (“to hurt”), both from Proto-Germanic *skaþ?n? (“to injure”). Cognate with Scots skaith, Danish skade, Dutch schaden, German schaden, Swedish skada; compare Gothic ???????????????????????????? (skaþjan), Old Norse skeðja (“to hurt”). Compare Ancient Greek ??????? (ask?th?s, “unhurt”), Albanian shkathët (“skillful, adept, clever”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ske?ð/
• Rhymes: -e?ð

Verb

scathe (third-person singular simple present scathes, present participle scathing, simple past and past participle scathed)

1. To injure or harm.
2. To blast; scorch; wither.
   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Broken Heart:

     Strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch the soul.

Derived terms

• scathel
• scathing
• unscathed

Translations

References

• scath in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• 'stache, 'taches, Scheat, achest, chaste, chates, cheats, he-cats, sachet, she-cat, stache, taches, thecas

Middle English

Adjective

scathe

1. Unfortunate, a pity, a shame.
   • 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 445-6.

English

Alternative forms

• scathe, scaith, schath, schathe, schaith (Scotland)

Etymology

Variant of scathe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skæ?/, /sk???/
• Rhymes: -æ?, -???

Noun

scath (countable and uncountable, plural scaths)

1. (Britain dialectal, archaic) Alternative form of scathe (“harm; damage”)
   • c. 1847, Lydia H. Sigourney, Advertisement of a Lost Day

     Scath and loss / That man can ne'er repair.

   • 1827, Mary Howitt, The Desolation of Eyam

     He buried in his heart all sense of scath.

Verb

scath (third-person singular simple present scaths, present participle scathing, simple past and past participle scathed)

1. Archaic form of scathe.

Anagrams

• Chats, Satch, Stach, caths, chast, chats, tachs