scary

English

Alternative forms

• scarey (dated)

Etymology 1

scare +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• enPR: skâr'ē IPA^(key): /ˈskɛəɹi/
• IPA^(key): /ˈskɛəɹi/, /ˈskɛɹi/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Homophone: skerry (in accents with the Mary-marry-merry merger)

Adjective

scary (comparative scarier, superlative scariest)

1. (now chiefly informal) Causing fear or anxiety

   Synonyms: frightening, hair-raising, petrifying, terrifying; see also Thesaurus:frightening

   The tiger's jaws were scary.

   She was hiding behind her pillow during the scary parts of the film.

   • 1982, Anne Tyler, chapter 2, in Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant‎^[1], New York: Ivy Books, published 1992, page 70:

     “ […] How scary it is to know that everyone I love depends on me! I’m afraid I’ll do something wrong.”

2. (informal) Uncannily striking or surprising.

   Linda changed her hair, and it’s scary how much she looks like her mother.

3. (US, colloquial) Subject to sudden alarm; easily frightened.

   Synonyms: nervous, jumpy

   • 1823, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 5, in The Pioneers‎^[2], volume 2, New York: Charles Wiley, the UK edition of the same year has scary (p. 262)]^[3], page 77:

     “Whist! whist!” said Natty, in a low voice, on hearing a slight sound made by Elizabeth, in bending over the side of the canoe, in eager curiosity; “’tis a sceary animal, and it’s a far stroke for a spear. […] ”

   • 1867, John Greenleaf Whittier, The Tent on the Beach, and Other Poems‎^[4], Boston: Ticknor and Fields, The Wreck of Rivermouth, page 25:

     “She’s cursed,” said the skipper; “speak her fair:
     I’m scary always to see her shake
     Her wicked head, with its wild gray hair,
     And nose like a hawk, and eyes like a snake.”

Derived terms

• scarily
• scariness
• scarisome / scarysome
• scary sharp

Translations

causing fear or anxiety

• Albanian: frikshme
• Amharic: አስፈሪ (āsiferī)
• Arabic: مُجَفِّل (mujaffil)
• Armenian: վախկոտ (hy) (vaxkot)
• Azerbaijani: qorxulu, qorxunc (az), dəhşətli (az)
• Basque: beldurgarria
• Belarusian: стра́шны (strášny), жахлі́вы (žaxlívy)
• Bengali: ভীতিকর (bhitikor)
• Bulgarian: стра́шен (bg) (strášen)
• Burmese: ကြောက်စရာ (kraukca.ra)
• Catalan: espantós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 恐怖 (zh) (kǒngbù)

• Corsican: spaventosu, pauroso
• Czech: děsivý
• Danish: skræmmende, uhyggelig
• Dutch: eng (nl)
• Esperanto: timiga (eo)
• Finnish: pelottava (fi)
• French: sinistre (fr), terrifiant (fr), affreux (fr)
• Georgian: საშინელი (sašineli)
• German: schrecklich (de), furchterregend (de), beängstigend (de)
• Greek: τρομακτικός (el) (tromaktikós)
• Gujarati: ડરામણી (ḍarāmṇī)
• Hausa: ban tsoro
• Hebrew: מפחיד m (mafkhíd)
• Hindi: भयानक (hi) (bhayānak), डरावना (hi) (ḍarāvnā)
• Hungarian: ijesztő (hu), félelmetes (hu)
• Icelandic: skelfilegur (is)
• Indonesian: menakutkan (id)
• Irish: scanrúil
• Italian: pauroso (it)
• Japanese: 怖い (ja) (こわい, kowai)
• Javanese: medeni (jv)
• Kannada: ಹೆದರಿಕೆಯೆ (hedarikeye)
• Kazakh: қорқынышты (qorqynyşty)
• Khmer: គួរឱ្យខ្លាច (kuor aoy khlach)
• Korean: 공포의 (ko) (gongpoui), 무섭다 (ko) (museopda)
• Kyrgyz: бирлери коркунучтуу да (birleri korkunuctuu da)
• Latin: terribilis, metūculōsus
• Latvian: biedējoši, atbaidošs
• Lithuanian: baisu
• Macedonian: страшен (strašen)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malagasy: mampatahotra (mg), mampahatahotra, hampatahotra
• Malay: menakutkan
• Malayalam: ഭീതിദമാണ് (bhītidamāṇŭ), ഭയപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന (bhayappeṭuttunna)
• Maori: whakamataku, wehiwehi
• Marathi: भितीदायक (bhitīdāyak), धडकी भरवणारा (dhaḍkī bharavṇārā)
• Mongolian: аймшигтай (ajmšigtaj), Аймшгийн (Ajmšgiin)
• Nepali: डरलाग्दो (ḍarlāgdo)
• Norwegian: skummel
• Old English: afæran
• Persian: ترسناک (fa) (tarsnâk), بیمناک (fa) (bimnâk)
• Polish: straszny (pl), przerażający (pl) m, straszliwy (pl)
• Portuguese: assustador (pt)
• Punjabi: ਡਰਾਉਣਾ (ḍarāuṇā)
• Romanian: înfricoșător (ro)
• Russian: стра́шный (ru) (strášnyj), ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj)
• Samoan: mataʻu, taufaafefe
• Sanskrit: भीष्म (sa) (bhīṣma)
• Scottish Gaelic: eagalach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: страшан

  Roman: strašan (sh)

• Sinhalese: බය හිතෙන (baya hitena)
• Slovak: desivý
• Slovene: strašen (sl)
• Spanish: asustador (es), temible (es), espantoso (es), aterrador (es)
• Swahili: inatisha
• Swedish: läskig (sv)
• Tagalog: nakakatakot, katakot-takot
• Tajik: тарсовар (tarsovar)
• Tamil: பயங்கரமான (ta) (payaṅkaramāṉa)
• Telugu: భయానకంగా (bhayānakaṅgā), భయపెట్టాడు (bhayapeṭṭāḍu)
• Thai: น่ากลัว (nâa-gluua)
• Turkish: korkunç (tr)
• Turkmen: gorkunç
• Ukrainian: страшни́й (strašnýj), жахли́вий (žaxlývyj)
• Uzbek: qo'rqinchli (uz)
• Vietnamese: đáng sợ (vi)
• Welsh: brawychus (cy)
• Xhosa: eyoyikisayo
• Yiddish: סקערי (skeri)

Etymology 2

From dialectal English scare (“scraggy”).

Noun

scary

1. Barren land having only a thin coat of grass.

Anagrams

• -crasy, Carys, Crays, carsy, crays, scray