scum

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)kewH-“to cover, conceal”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*skūmaz“froth, foam”
3. Frankish · derived from*skūm
4. Old Dutch · derived from*scūm
5. Middle Dutch · derived fromschūme“foam”
6. Middle English · inherited fromscum
7. English todayscum

From Middle English scum, scome, skum, skome, scumme, from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch schūme (“foam”), from Old Dutch *scūm, from Frankish *skūm, from Proto-Germanic *skūmaz (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”). Cognate with Dutch schuim (“foam”), West Frisian skuum, German Schaum (“foam”), Danish and Swedish skum (“foam”). Compare also French écume (“scum”), Italian schiuma (“foam”), Saterland Frisian Skuum, Sicilian scuma (“foam”), Walloon schome (“scum, foam”), Lithuanian šamas (“catfish”) and skanus (“tasty”) from the same Germanic source. Related to skim.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1960s Semen.