scut

scut · noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)ker-“to cut off”
2. Latin · derived fromexcurtāre
3. Old French · derived fromescorter
4. Middle English · inherited fromscut“hare”
5. English todayscut

From Middle English scut (“hare”); further etymology uncertain, possibly related to Middle English scut, scute (“short”), possibly from Old French escorter, escurter, or Latin excurtāre, scurtāre, from curtō (“to cut short, shorten”), from curtus (“short; shortened”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”)) + -ō. A derivation from Old Norse skut, skutr (“stern of a boat”), or Icelandic skott (“animal's tail”) is thought to be unlikely. As to sense 3 (“the female pudenda, the vulva”), see the letter of 5 June 1875 from Joseph Crosby to Joseph Parker Norris published in One Touch of Shakespeare (1986).

scut · noun²

Uncertain, possibly a variant of scout (“(obsolete except Scotland) contemptible person”), possibly related to scout (“to reject with contempt; to scoff”), from a North Germanic language; compare Old Norse skúta, skúte (“a taunt”), probably from Proto-Germanic *skeutaną (“to shoot”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to shoot; to throw”). Compare Old Norse skútyrði, skotyrði (“abusive language”).

scut · noun³

Uncertain; perhaps related to scut (“contemptible person”): see etymology 2.

scut · verb⁴

1. Swedish · derived fromskutta“to leap”
2. English todayscut

Origin unknown; perhaps from scut(tle), or related to Swedish skutta (“to leap”).

Words from the same roots