different between scathe vs spathe

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

Etymology

From Latin spatha, from Ancient Greek ????? (spáth?, “blade”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spe?ð/
• Rhymes: -e?ð

Noun

spathe (plural spathes)

1. (botany) A large bract that envelops or subtends a whole inflorescence, typically a spadix.

Translations

See also

• spadix

Anagrams

• Spaeth, apeths, pethas

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin spatha, from Ancient Greek ????? (spáth?). Doublet of épée, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spat/

Noun

spathe f (plural spathes)

1. (botany) spathe

Further reading

• “spathe” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).