Meanings
plural scabbards
- The sheath of a sword.
I had had to discard my rifle before I commenced the rapid descent of the cliff, so that now I was armed only with a hunting knife, and this I whipped from its scabbard as Kho leaped toward me.
1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IX, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC
present singular third person scabbards · participle present scabbarding · participle past scabbarded · past scabbarded
- To put an object (especially a sword) into its scabbard.
Suddenly he scabbarded his sabre.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*skēriz“blade, scissors”
- Frankish*skarberg“sheath”
- Germanic
- Anglo-Normaneschaubert
- Middle Englishscabard
- Englishscabbard
From Middle English scabard, scauberde, scauberk, scauberke, from Anglo-Norman eschaubert, escalberc, of Germanic origin, perhaps from Frankish *skarberg (“sheath”, literally “blade-protection”), from Proto-Germanic *skēriz (“blade, scissors”) + *bergaz (“shelter, protection, refuge”). See also hauberk.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἔλυτρον, κολεός
- ἔλυτρον (élutron)the sheath of a sword
- κολεός (koleós)the sheath of a sword
Arabic غِمْد, غِلَاف
- غِمْد (ḡimd)the sheath of a sword
- غِلَاف (ḡilāf)the sheath of a sword
Bulgarian ножница
- ножница (nožnica)the sheath of a sword
Catalan beina
- beinathe sheath of a sword
Chinese Mandarin 鞘, 劍鞘 /剑鞘
- 鞘 (qiào)the sheath of a sword
- 劍鞘 /剑鞘 (jiànqiào)the sheath of a sword
- 刀鞘 (dāoqiào)the sheath of a sword
Czech pochva
- pochvathe sheath of a sword
Danish skede
- skedethe sheath of a sword
Dutch schede
- schedethe sheath of a sword
Esperanto glavingo
- glavingothe sheath of a sword
Estonian mõõgatupp
- mõõgatuppthe sheath of a sword
Finnish tuppi, huotra
- tuppithe sheath of a sword
- huotrathe sheath of a sword
French fourreau, gaine
- fourreauthe sheath of a sword
- gainethe sheath of a sword
German Schwertscheide, Scheide
- Schwertscheidethe sheath of a sword
- Scheidethe sheath of a sword
Greek θηκάρι, θήκη
- θηκάρι (thikári)the sheath of a sword
- θήκη (thíki)the sheath of a sword
Hebrew נדן, נרתיק
- נדן (nadan)the sheath of a sword
- נרתיק (nartik)the sheath of a sword
Hindi मियान, म्यान
- मियान (miyān)the sheath of a sword
- म्यान (myān)the sheath of a sword
Hungarian hüvely, tok
- hüvelythe sheath of a sword
- tokthe sheath of a sword
Icelandic skálpur, skeiðar
- skálpurthe sheath of a sword
- skeiðarthe sheath of a sword
Indonesian sarung pedang
- sarung pedangthe sheath of a sword
Irish truaill
- truaillthe sheath of a sword
Italian fodero, guaina
- foderothe sheath of a sword
- guainathe sheath of a sword
Japanese 鞘
- 鞘 (saya)the sheath of a sword
Korean 칼집, 대검집
- 칼집 (kaljip)the sheath of a sword
- 대검집 (daegeomjip)the sheath of a sword
Latin vāgīna
- vāgīnathe sheath of a sword
Latvian maksts
- makststhe sheath of a sword
Lithuanian makštis
- makštisthe sheath of a sword
Māori pūkoro
- pūkorothe sheath of a sword
Norwegian slire, skjede
- slirethe sheath of a sword
- skjedethe sheath of a sword
Persian غلاف, قراب
- غلاف (ġelâf)the sheath of a sword
- قرابthe sheath of a sword
- نیام (niyâm)the sheath of a sword
Polish pochwa
- pochwathe sheath of a sword
Portuguese bainha
- bainhathe sheath of a sword
Punjabi ਮਿਆਨ
- ਮਿਆਨ (miāna)the sheath of a sword
Romanian teacă
- teacăthe sheath of a sword
Russian но́жны
- но́жны (nóžny)the sheath of a sword
Scottish Gaelic duille, fraighe
- duillethe sheath of a sword
- fraighethe sheath of a sword
- cochallthe sheath of a sword
- faigheanthe sheath of a sword
- duille-sgeinethe sheath of a sword
Slovak pošva
- pošvathe sheath of a sword
Spanish vaina, funda
- vainathe sheath of a sword
- fundathe sheath of a sword
Swedish skida, balja
- skidathe sheath of a sword
- baljathe sheath of a sword
- slidathe sheath of a sword
Tagalog kaluban, bayna
- kalubanthe sheath of a sword
- baynathe sheath of a sword
Tamil உறை, வள்
- உறை (uṟai)the sheath of a sword
- வள் (vaḷ)the sheath of a sword
- வாளுறை (vāḷuṟai)the sheath of a sword
Thai ฝัก
- ฝัก (fàk)the sheath of a sword
Turkish kın, kılıf
- kınthe sheath of a sword
- kılıfthe sheath of a sword
Ukrainian пі́хви, пі́хва
- пі́хви (píxvy)the sheath of a sword
- пі́хва (píxva)the sheath of a sword
Urdu غلاف, میان
- غلاف (ġilāf)the sheath of a sword
- میان (miyān)the sheath of a sword
- نیام (niyām)the sheath of a sword
Vietnamese vỏ, bao kiếm
- vỏthe sheath of a sword
- bao kiếmthe sheath of a sword
Welsh gwain
- gwainthe sheath of a sword
Yiddish שייד
- שייד (sheyd)the sheath of a sword
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with scabbard
All rhymes →Cite this entry
scabbard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scabbard
“scabbard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scabbard. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scabbard,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scabbard.
Source: scabbard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.