Etymology

scarify

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Today it means: To remove thatch (build-up of organic matter on the soil) from a lawn, to dethatch. Full definition →

French scarifier ← Late Latin scarificāre ← Latin scarifāre
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scarify · verb1

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromσκαριφᾶσθαι“scratch”
  2. Latin · derived fromscarifāre“to scarify”
  3. Late Latin · derived fromscarificāre
  4. French · derived fromscarifier
  5. English todayscarify

From French scarifier, from Late Latin scarificāre, from Latin scarifāre (“to scarify”), from Ancient Greek σκαριφᾶσθαι (skariphâsthai, “scratch”), from σκάριφος (skáriphos, “writing, drawing, sketching”). Unrelated to scar.

scarify · verb2

  1. Englishscare
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  3. Proto-Italic*θakos
  4. English todayscarify

From scare + -ify.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.