English
scan
Scan comes from Latin scandō ‘to climb, rise, mount’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *skend-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skend-1‘to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skandō1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscandō1‘to climb, rise, mount’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scanden1‘to scan verse’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scanne1‘to mark off verse to show metrical structure’
- Englishearliest quotation 1816scan1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English scan
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1816, Lord Byron, Canto III: “But ere these matchless heights I dare to scan,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skend-Wiktionary, English scan‘to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skandōWiktionary, English scanreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscandōWiktionary, English scan‘to climb, rise, mount’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scandenWiktionary, English scan‘to scan verse’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scanneWiktionary, English scan‘to mark off verse to show metrical structure’
- Englishearliest quotation 1816scanWiktionary, English scan. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1816, Lord Byron, Canto III: “But ere these matchless heights I dare to scan,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skend- ‘to jump, dart, climb, scale, scan’
descend, slander, echelon, escalator, skein, scala, 12 more
through Latin scandō ‘to climb, rise, mount’
Today it means
verb To examine sequentially, carefully, or critically; to scrutinize; to behold closely.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “scan”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *skend- / scan