from scratch

English

Etymology

From the scratch drawn in the ground serving as the starting line of a foot race. A runner “starting from scratch” received no handicap, but started at the beginning of the course.

Adverb

from scratch (not comparable)

1. (idiomatic) From the beginning; starting with no advantage or prior preparation.

   There were so many errors in the program that the programmer decided to rewrite it from scratch.

   When the writer finished writing his book, it was stolen and now he has to rewrite it from scratch.

   He had no money and no rich friends, so he had to build his business from scratch.

2. (idiomatic) From basic materials or raw ingredients.

   She said she wanted to build a new house from scratch.

   He was out of pancake mix so he had to make the batter from scratch.

Translations

from the beginning

Afrikaans: van die begin af (af) Chinese: Mandarin: 從頭做起 (cmn), 从头做起 (cmn) (cóngtóu zuòqǐ), 從頭開始 (cmn), 從頭開始 (cmn) (cóngtóu kāishǐ), (of a business) 白手起家 (cmn) (báishǒuqǐjiā) Dutch: vanaf nul, helemaal opnieuw, vanaf het begin Finnish: tyhjästä (fi), alusta alkaen (fi)

Japanese: 最初から (ja) (saisho kara), ゼロから (ja) (zero kara) Polish: od nowa, od początku, od zera Russian: с чистого листа, с нуля, с самого начала Spanish: desde cero (es)

from raw ingredients

Chinese: Mandarin: 用原料來..., 用原料来... (yòng yuánliào lái...) Dutch: vanaf het begin

Finnish: raaka-aineista (fi) Japanese: 手作り (ja) (tezukuri) Latin: ex nihilo (la) n.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Catalan: des de zero, des del principi, de cap i de nou French: à partir de zéro (fr), de zéro (fr) German: von Grund auf Interlingua: del initio

Italian: da capo (it) Persian: از ابتدا Portuguese: do nada, do início, do zero Spanish: desde cero

Related terms

• from the ground up
• scratch-built
• scratch made

Quotations

• 2002, The New Yorker

  He sat there Friday night and built an entire model ship from scratch.

• 1980, Cosmos, Carl Sagan

  If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.