English
scorn
Scorn comes from Middle English scornen ‘to despise or revile’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English scorn
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1578–1579, Edmund Spenser, London: Imprinted for William Ponsonbie: “For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scornenWiktionary, English scorn‘to despise or revile’
- Englishearliest quotation 1578–1579scornWiktionary, English scorn. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1578–1579, Edmund Spenser, London: Imprinted for William Ponsonbie: “For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make…”
The story
Verb from Middle English scornen, schornen, alteration of Old French escharnir, from Vulgar Latin *escarnire, from Proto-West Germanic *skarnijan, possibly from Proto-Germanic *skeraną (‘to shear’) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (‘to cut’)), or possibly related to *skarną (‘dung, filth’) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱerd-, *(s)ḱer- (‘dung, manure, filth’)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut’
across, share, card, short, cross, cancer, shirt, screen, circle, circuit, crucial, curve, circus, circulation, skirt, score, curb, scare, cancellation, shrine, crest, carnival, circa, scrutiny, scar, incarceration, shred, raffle, circulate, carcinoma, shrewd, carnage, crux, shard, coronary, cirque, riddance, corona, crepe, shearing, 116 more
through Proto-Germanic *skeraną ‘to shear’
Today it means
verb To feel or display contempt or disdain for something or somebody; to despise.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “scorn”. 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 scornen / scorn