scab
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scab
- /skæb/
Rhymes with -æb
Where it comes from
From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.
noun scabs
- An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
- The scabies.
- The mange, especially when it appears on sheep. Scab was the terror of the sheep farmer, and the peril of his calling.
- Any of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus).
- Common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies.
- Any one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots.
- A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
-
A mean, dirty, paltry fellow.
Out, scab!
Similar: antimodel, bad guy, baddie, bastard, beggar, blackguard, bounder, cad, cockatrice, coistril, evildoer, fustilarian
-
A worker who acts against trade union policies; any picket crosser (strikebreaker), and especially one with devotion to union busting.
When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out.
Similar: blackleg, blacklegger, knobstick, scalie
verb scabs · scabbing · scabbed
- To become covered by a scab or scabs.
- To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin. 1734, Royal Society of London, The Philosophical Transactions (1719 - 1733) Abridged, Volume 7, page 631, Thoſe Puſtules aroſe, maturated, and ſcabbed off, intirely like the true Pox.
- To remove part of a surface (from). The beds shall be scabbed off to give a solid bearing, no pinning shall be admitted between the backing and the face stones and there shall be a good square joint not exceeding one inch in width, and the face stone shall be scabbed off to allow this.
- To act as a strikebreaker. Don't scab for the bosses / Don't listen to their lies / Us poor folks haven't got a chance / Unless we organize.
- To beg (for), to cadge or bum. I scabbed some money off a friend.
Translations
Every language
noun incrustation over a wound
| Español | costra, carnero, postilla, grano, encostradura |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 딱지 ttakji |
| 日本語 | 瘡蓋 kasabuta |
| 中文 | 痂 jiā |
| हिन्दी | खुरंड khuraṇḍ |
| Português | crosta, bostela, casquinha, casca, cascão |
| Français | croûte |
| Deutsch | Schorf, Kruste, Wundschorf, Wundkruste |
| Italiano | crosta |
| Ελληνικά | κρούστα kroústa, καρκάδι karkádi |
| Română | crustă |
| Русский | струп strup, коро́ста korósta, ко́рочка kóročka |
| Tiếng Việt | vảy |
| العربية | جُلْبَة julba |
| עברית | גלד geled |
noun common scab
| Deutsch | Kartoffelschorf |
|---|---|
| Italiano | scabbia, rogna |
noun founding irregularity
| Italiano | sfoglia |
|---|
noun mean, dirty, paltry fellow
| Italiano | gretto, meschino, spregevole |
|---|---|
| Русский | мерза́вец merzávec |
verb to become covered by a scab or scabs
| Français | s'encroûter |
|---|
Talk about this word "scab." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/scab. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. scab. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/scab "scab." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/scab.Cite this
@misc{scab_2026,
title = {scab},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/scab},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
