Etymograph

English

scar

Scar comes from Middle English scar.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scar1
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604scar1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English scar
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice: “Yet I'll not shed her blood; / Nor scar…”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scarWiktionary, English scar
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604scarWiktionary, English scar. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice: “Yet I'll not shed her blood; / Nor scar…”

The story

Not related to scarify.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English scar

Another origin of scar

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*skarjąreconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350sker‘an isolated rock in the sea’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scarre
  5. Englishtodayscar

Another origin of scar

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσκάροςskáros‘parrot wrasse, Sparisoma cretense, syn. Scarus cretensis’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEscarus‘a kind of fish’
  3. Englishtodayscar

Today it means

noun A permanent mark on the skin, sometimes caused by the healing of a wound.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “scar”. 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 / Middle English scar / scar

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