scut

C2+ Topic:Animals

US /skʌt/ UK /skʌt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the short erect tail of a hare, rabbit, or deer; menial drudgery

The rabbit flashed its white scut and vanished into the hedge.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the short erect tail of a... tail drudgery grind chore

Word family

Derived forms scutwork

Etymology

Late Middle English, of uncertain origin; possibly from Old Norse 'skjota' ('to shoot'), or related to dialectal 'scut' ('short, abrupt').

Topics

Animals

External links

# scut

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

## Meanings
1. the short erect tail of a hare, rabbit, or deer; menial drudgery

## Examples
- The rabbit flashed its white scut and vanished into the hedge.

## Synonyms
- tail
- drudgery
- grind
- chore

## Derived Forms
- scutwork

## Etymology
Late Middle English, of uncertain origin; possibly from Old Norse 'skjota' ('to shoot'), or related to dialectal 'scut' ('short, abrupt').

## AI Etymology
Scut is first described as late Middle English, of uncertain origin; possibly from Old Norse 'skjota' ('to shoot'), or related to dialectal 'scut' ('short, abrupt'). Older glosses in the chain include "skjota", "to shoot", "scut", and "short, abrupt", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, scut is best read as borrowing and uncertain formation, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "the short erect tail of a hare, rabbit, or deer; menial drudgery". English derivatives include scutwork. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Animals

markdown