scrat
/skɹæt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.66 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Euclio […] as he went from home, seeing a crow scrat upon the muck-hill, returned in all haste, taking it for malum omen, an ill sign […]."
- "He himself had scratted in the thin dust of evangelical tracts."
- "three on the right side for males , three on the left side for femals , and one in the midst for Hermophrodices or Scrats"
Etymology
From Middle English scratten. Further etymology uncertain; apparently related to cratch, from Middle English cratchen, cracchen (“to scratch”), alteration of *cratsen (“to scratch”). The root is Germanic and may be inherited from Proto-West Germanic. Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *krattōną (“to scratch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gred-, *grod- (“to scratch, scrape”); ultimately onomatopoeic in origin (compare crush, crow). From a surface analysis, maybe related to Proto-Germanic *skraudō (“scraps, shreds”); also Old English scrama (“scratch”), among other Germanic roots beginning with *skr- (cf. scrape). Compare related Old Swedish kratta (“to scratch”), Swedish kratta (“to rake”), Danish kratte (“to scratch”), Icelandic krota (“to engrave”); Old Norse *kratsa, Danish kradse (“to scratch, scrape, claw”), Swedish kratsa (“to scratch”), Icelandic krassa (“to scrawl”); Dutch kratsen (“to scratch”), Low German kratten, Old High German krazzōn, crazōn (“to scratch”), Middle Low German krassen, kratsen, German kratzen (“to scratch”), Albanian gërresë (“rasp, scraper”). According to SAOB, a related word is apparently Old Swedish kraza (“to quarrel, to fight”), which could suggest a relation to English craze, from Old Norse *krasa (“to shatter”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: scratten, *krattōną, *gred-, scrat, *scrætt, *skrattuz