scavenger

C2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈskævəndʒɝ/ UK /ˈskæv.ən.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/ See IPA manual

Freq #19569

Meanings

1

noun
An animal that feeds on dead bodies or rotting matter.

Vultures are natural scavengers that clean up carcasses.
2

noun
A person who searches through discarded things for food or useful items.

The scavenger sifted through the bins looking for scrap metal.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a person who searches... magpiepack rat

Word family

Forms scavengers

Derived forms bioscavengerscaffyscavengerismscavengerousscavengershipunscavengered

Etymology

Originally from Middle English scavager, from Anglo-Norman scawageour (“one who had to do with scavage, inspector, tax collector”), from Old Northern French *scawage, escauwage (“scavage”), Old French *scavage, escavage, alteration of escauvinghe (compare Medieval Latin scewinga, sceawinga), from Old Dutch scauwōn (“to inspect, to examinate, to look at”). Usually reinterpreted/re-analysed today as scavenge (which was originally a backformation from this word) + -er. Compare Old English sċēawung (“a showing, spectacle, examination, inspection, toll on exposure of goods”) and Dutch schouwing (“i…

scavager Middle English scawageour xno *scawage fro-nor *scavage Old French scauwōn odt

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# scavenger

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈskævəndʒɝ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈskæv.ən.d͡ʒə(ɹ)/
**Frequency rank:** 19569

## Meanings
1. An animal that feeds on dead bodies or rotting matter.
2. A person who searches through discarded things for food or useful items.

## Examples
- Vultures are natural scavengers that clean up carcasses.
- The scavenger sifted through the bins looking for scrap metal.

## Derived Forms
- bioscavenger
- scaffy
- scavengerism
- scavengerous
- scavengership
- unscavengered

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: scavager
- Root: scawageour
- Root: *scawage
- Root: *scavage
- Root: scauwōn

## Etymology
Originally from Middle English scavager, from Anglo-Norman scawageour (“one who had to do with scavage, inspector, tax collector”), from Old Northern French *scawage, escauwage (“scavage”), Old French *scavage, escavage, alteration of escauvinghe (compare Medieval Latin scewinga, sceawinga), from Old Dutch scauwōn (“to inspect, to examinate, to look at”). Usually reinterpreted/re-analysed today as scavenge (which was originally a backformation from this word) + -er. Compare Old English sċēawung (“a showing, spectacle, examination, inspection, toll on exposure of goods”) and Dutch schouwing (“i…

## AI Etymology
Scavenger is originally from Middle English scavager, from Anglo-Norman scawageour (“one who had to do with scavage, inspector, tax collector”), from Old Northern French *scawage, escauwage (“scavage”), Old French *scavage, escavage, alteration of escauvinghe (compare Medieval Latin scewinga, sceawinga), from Old Dutch scauwōn (“to inspect, to examinate, to look at”). Usually reinterpreted/re-analysed today as scavenge (which was originally a backformation from this word) + -er. Compare Old English sċēawung (“a showing, spectacle, examination, inspection, toll on exposure of goods”) and Dutch schouwing (“i… The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern nominal form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include scavager (Middle English), scawageour (xno), *scawage (fro-nor), *scavage (Old French), and scauwōn (odt). Current senses include an animal that feeds on dead bodies or rotting matter and a person who searches through discarded things for food or useful items.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown

scavenger

Meanings

Thesaurus

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback