Where does “scarce” come from?

Scarce comes from Old Northern French scars, a word of uncertain ultimate origin whose meaning in the source language remains unknown.

scarce (English): Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient...

Definitions

  1. Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient...

Ancestry of “scarce”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishscarsRare, scarce; not common or widespread
2Old Northern Frenchscars

Words derived from “scarce

Every word from Old Northern French scarsEvery word from Middle English scars