Where does “scared” come from?
Scared comes from Middle English, Old Norse sker, Proto-Germanic -ōdaz, and Proto-Indo-European (s)ker-, ultimately from the root sek-.
scared (English): Feeling fear; afraid, frightened; simple past...
Definitions
- Feeling fear; afraid, frightened; simple past...
Ancestry of “scared”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | scare | A minor fright; A cause of slight terror;... |
| 2 | Middle English | sker | Terror, fright |
| 3 | Middle English | skerren | to frighten |
| 4 | Old Norse | skirra | frighten; to frighten; to shrink away from, shun;... |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | skirzijaną | to shoo, scare off |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)ḱer- | dung, manure, filth; manure, dung, filth |