The story
- Middle English · inherited fromscant
- Middle English · inherited fromscanten
- Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)ḱem-“mutilated, hornless”
- Proto-Germanic · derived from*skammaz“short”
- Old Norse · derived fromskamt
- Middle English · inherited fromscant
- English todayscant
Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.
Words from the same roots
Proto-Indo-European*(s)ḱem- all →
shand
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.