scrub · adjective, noun1
- Old English · derived fromscrybb
- Middle English · inherited fromshrobbe
- English todayscrub
Late Middle English shrobbe in the sense of "stunted tree," a variant of shrub, from Old English scrybb. Doublet of shrub.
scrub · verb, noun2
- Middle Dutch · derived fromschrobben“clean by scrubbing”
- Middle English · inherited fromscrobben“groom a horse with a currycomb”
- English todayscrub
From Middle English scrobben (“groom a horse with a currycomb”); from Middle Dutch schrobben (“clean by scrubbing”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.