scare

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɛə/
• IPA^(key): /skɛɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(r)

Etymology 1

An alteration (first attested in the 1520s) of Middle English sker ("fear, dread") (which is itself first attested c. 1400). Middle English sker is a nominal derivative of the Middle English verb skerren, which gave rise to the Modern English verb "scare". See etymology of the verb below.

Noun

scare (plural scares)

1. A minor fright.

   Johnny had a bad scare last night.

   • 2011 June 4, Phil McNulty, “England 2 - 2 Switzerland”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     England were held to a draw after surviving a major scare against Switzerland as they were forced to come from two goals behind to earn a point in the Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley.

2. A cause of slight terror; something that inspires fear or dread.

   a food-poisoning scare

3. A device or object used to frighten.
   • 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 153:

     But I admit the possibility of their being used as "scares" for either birds of prey or snakes, or both.

Synonyms

• fright

Related terms

• scary

Translations

minor fright

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 驚嚇／惊吓 (zh) (jīngxià), 惊吓 (zh) (jīngxià), 吃驚／吃惊 (zh) (chījīng), 吃惊 (zh) (chījīng), 驚懼／惊惧 (zh) (jīngjù), 惊惧 (zh) (jīngjù)

• Finnish: säikähdys (fi)
• French: peur (fr) f
• Galician: susto m
• German: Schreck (de) m
• Greek: φοβίζω (el) (fovízo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: timore (it)
• Japanese: 怯え (obie), 恐怖 (ja) (kyōfu)
• Portuguese: susto (pt)
• Russian: испу́г (ru) m (ispúg), страх (ru) m (strax), па́ника (ru) f (pánika)
• Spanish: susto (es) m
• Swahili: ukalili (sw)

something that inspires fear

• Finnish: pelätti, kauhu (fi)
• Italian: spavento (it), paura (it)
• Japanese: 恐怖 (ja) (kyōfu), 脅威 (ja) (kyōi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: пу́гало (ru) n (púgalo), жу́пел (ru) m (žúpel)
• Swahili: ukalili (sw)

See also

• scarecrow

Etymology 2

An alteration (first attested in the 1590s) of Middle English skerren (which is itself first attested c. 1200). Middle English skerren is derived from the Old Norse verb skirra ("to frighten; to shrink away from, shun; to prevent, avert"), which is related to the Old Norse noun skjarr ("timid, shy, afraid of") of unknown ultimate origin. Compare Scots skar ("wild, timid, shy").

Verb

1. To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.

   Did it scare you when I said "Boo!"?

   • c. 1851, Henry VI, Part 3 (III:i, v. 6-7), William Shakespeare

     That cannot be; the noise of thy crossbow / Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost.

   • 1995 The Langoliers

     (Laurel Stevenson) Would you please be quiet? You're scaring the little girl.

     (Craig Toomey) Scaring the little girl?! Scaring the little girl?! Lady!

Synonyms

• frighten
• terrify
• See also Thesaurus:frighten

Translations

to frighten

• Albanian:

  Arbëresh: llavënj

• Arabic: أَفْزَعَ (ʔafzaʕa)
• Aromanian: aspar, spar
• Belarusian: пало́хаць impf (palóxacʹ)
• Burmese: ခြောက် (my) (hkrauk)
• Catalan: espantar (ca), espaventar (ca)
• Central Sierra Miwok: šeký-ŋe
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚇唬／吓唬 (zh) (xiàhu), 吓唬 (zh) (xiàhu), 使害怕 (shǐ hàipà)

• Czech: polekat (cs), postrašit, vyděsit (cs), vylekat (cs)
• Dutch: bang maken, beangstigen (nl), angst aanjagen, laten schrikken, doen schrikken, verschrikken (nl)
• Esperanto: timigi
• Finnish: pelästyttää (fi), säikäyttää (fi)
• French: effrayer (fr)
• Galician: espantar (gl), atemorizar (gl), asustar (gl)
• German: erschrecken (de), beängstigen (de), ängstigen (de)
• Gothic: 𐍉𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (ōgjan)
• Greek: τρομάζω (el) (tromázo), φοβίζω (el) (fovízo)

  Ancient: πτήσσω (ptḗssō), φοβέω (phobéō), φοβερίζω (phoberízō)

• Irish: cuir eagla ar, scanraigh
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: spaventare (it), impaurire (it), spaurire
• Japanese: 威かす (おどかす, odokasu) (to terrify), 驚かす (ja) (おどろかす, odorokasu) (to surprise)
• Korean: 놀래키다 (nollaekida)
• Latin: terreō
• Latvian: baidīt, biedēt, biedināt
• Polish: straszyć (pl) impf
• Portuguese: assustar (pt)
• Romanian: speria (ro)
• Russian: пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), испуга́ть (ru) pf (ispugátʹ), напуга́ть (ru) pf (napugátʹ), страши́ть (ru) impf (strašítʹ), устраша́ть (ru) impf (ustrašátʹ)
• Sicilian: scantari (scn)
• Slovene: prestrašiti (sl)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: tšachaś

• Spanish: asustar (es), atemorizar (es), espantar (es)
• Swahili: ukalili (sw)
• Swedish: skrämma (sv)
• Turkish: korkutmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: ляка́ти impf (ljakáty)
• Welsh: dychryn (cy)

Derived terms

Terms derived from the noun or verb scare

• bird-scarer
• Red scare
• scarecrow
• scared

• scaredy-cat
• scaremonger
• scare out of one's wits
• scarer

• scare someone to death
• scare straight
• scare the pants off of

Etymology 3

Adjective

scare (comparative more scare, superlative most scare)

1. lean; scanty

Anagrams

• CERAs, Cares, Ceras, Cesar, Crase, Creas, Races, SERCA, acers, acres, cares, carse, caser, ceras, crase, e-cars, races, sacre, serac, sérac

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin scarus (also genus name Scarus), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek σκάρος (skáros).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skaʁ/

Noun

scare m (plural scares)

1. parrotfish

Further reading

• “scare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• âcres, caser, César, crase, créas, races, sacre, sacré