Etymology

scream

S1C3R1E1A1M3

Today it means: A loud, emphatic, exclamation of extreme emotion, especially horror, fear, excitement, or anger; it may comprise a word or a sustained, high-pitched vowel sound. Full definition →

Middle English scremen ← Middle Dutch scremen ← Old Norse skræma
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromskræma“to terrify; scare”
  2. Middle Dutch · derived fromscremen“to yell; shout”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromscremen
  4. English todayscream

Inherited from Middle English scremen, borrowed from or cognate with Middle Dutch scremen (“to yell; shout”) and Old Norse skræma (“to terrify; scare”); compare West Flemish schreemen, Zealandic schreême (“to shout; yell; cry”), Swedish skrämma (“to spook; frighten”), Danish skræmme (“to scare”), West Frisian skrieme (“to weep”). Compare also Swedish skräna (“to yell; shout; howl”), Dutch schreien (“to cry; weep”), German schreien (“to scream”). Related to shriek, skrike.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.