scathe

C2+ Topic:Safety & Risk

US /skeɪð/ UK /skeɪð/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to harm or injure, especially by scorching; harm or damage

The fire passed by and left the old oak unscathed by its heat.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to harm or injure,... harm injure damage hurt scorch wound blast

Opposites

heal spare benefit

Word family

Forms scathed

Derived forms scathingscatheless

Related forms unscathed scathing

Etymology

From Old Norse skaða ('to hurt, harm'), of Proto-Germanic origin (*skaþōną), from Proto-Indo-European *skēt- ('to harm, damage').

skaða Old Norse *skaþōną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Safety & Risk

External links

# scathe

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /skeɪð/
**IPA (UK):** /skeɪð/

## Meanings
1. to harm or injure, especially by scorching; harm or damage

## Examples
- The fire passed by and left the old oak unscathed by its heat.

## Synonyms
- harm
- injure
- damage
- hurt
- scorch
- wound
- blast

## Antonyms
- heal
- spare
- benefit

## Derived Forms
- scathing
- scatheless

## Related Forms
- unscathed
- scathing

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: skaða
- Root: *skaþōną

## Etymology
From Old Norse skaða ('to hurt, harm'), of Proto-Germanic origin (*skaþōną), from Proto-Indo-European *skēt- ('to harm, damage').

## AI Etymology
Scathe comes from Old Norse skaða ('to hurt, harm'), of Proto-Germanic origin (*skaþōną), from Proto-Indo-European *skēt- ('to harm, damage'). The historical chain includes Old Norse skaða and Proto-Germanic *skaþōną. Older glosses in the chain include "to hurt, harm" and "to harm, damage", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, scathe is best read as borrowing, yielding an English verb and noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a verb and noun, with the sense "to harm or injure, especially by scorching; harm or damage". English derivatives include scathing and scatheless; related forms include unscathed and scathing. The result is an English verb and noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Safety & Risk

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