Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “scary” come from?

Scary comes from Middle English -y, Middle French -ie, Latin -ia, Latin -ivus, Latin -ia, Proto-Indo-European -kos, and Proto-Indo-European -kos.

scary (English): Causing or able to cause fright; Uncannily...

Definitions

  1. Causing or able to cause fright; Uncannily...

Ancestry of “scary”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-yAdded to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives...
2Middle English-yDesignates an adjective, in many cases formed by...
3Old English-iġ-y, -ic
4Proto-West Germanic-gForms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a...
5Proto-Germanic-gaz-y
6Proto-Indo-European-ḱos-y, -ic

Words derived from “scary”

  • scarily
  • scariness
  • unscary
  • nonscary
  • scarisome
  • scarysome
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos →