Meanings
scrat1
present singular third person scrats · participle present scratting · participle past scratted · past scratted · alternative scratt
- obsoleteTo scratch or scrape.
Euclio[…]as he went from home, seeing a crow scrat upon the muck-hill, returned in all haste, taking it for malum omen, an ill sign[…].
1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, New York: New York Review Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 286
scrat2
plural scrats
- obsoleteA hermaphrodite.
three on the right side for males , three on the left side for femals , and one in the midst for Hermophrodices or Scrats
1649, Thomas Johnson, The Workes of that Famous Chirurgion Ambrose Parey
scrat3
Origin
scrat · verb
- Proto-Indo-European*ger-“to scratch, carve, cut”
- Proto-Germanic*krattōną“to scratch”
- Middle Englishscratten
- Englishscrat
From Middle English scratten. Further etymology uncertain; apparently related to cratch, from Middle English cratchen, cracchen (“to scratch”), alteration of *cratsen (“to scratch”). The root is Germanic and may be inherited from Proto-West Germanic. Compare Proto-Germanic *krattōną (“to scratch”), also of uncertain origin but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to scratch, carve, cut”); ultimately onomatopoeic in origin (compare crush, crow). From a surface analysis, maybe related to Proto-Germanic *skraudō (“scraps, shreds”); also Old English scrama (“scratch”), among other Germanic roots beginning with *skr- (cf. scrape). Compare related Old Swedish kratta (“to scratch”), Swedish kratta (“to rake”), Danish kratte (“to scratch”), Icelandic krota (“to engrave”); Old Norse *kratsa, Danish kradse (“to scratch, scrape, claw”), Swedish kratsa (“to scratch”), Icelandic krassa (“to scrawl”); Dutch kratsen (“to scratch”), Low German kratten, Old High German krazzōn, crazōn (“to scratch”), Middle Low German krassen, kratsen, German kratzen (“to scratch”), Albanian gërresë (“rasp, scraper”). According to SAOB, a related word is apparently Old Swedish kraza (“to quarrel, to fight”), which could suggest a relation to English craze, from Old Norse *krasa (“to shatter”).
More words from Middle English, Proto-Germanic, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →scrat · noun
Compare Old English scritta (“a hermaphrodite”), which had an earlier sense of "effeminate person, castrated man," presumably related to sċieran (“to cut”). Liberman notes that Germanic glossators, not familiar with Ovid, did not know exactly how to translate Latin hermaphroditus and instead matched it with more native words related to sexual deficiencies.
Full word history & related roots →scrat · noun
- Proto-Germanic*skrattuz“troll, forest monster”
- Old English*scrætt
- Middle Englishscrat
- Englishscrat
From Middle English scrat, from Old English *scrætt, from Proto-Germanic *skrattuz (“troll, forest monster”). Compare German Schratt and Old Norse skratti.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with scrat
Anagrams
Cite this entry
scrat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrat
“scrat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrat. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scrat,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scrat.
Source: scrat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.