scold

English

Alternative forms

• scould (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skoʊld/
• IPA^(key): /skəʊld/, [skɒʊɫd]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊld

Etymology 1

From Middle English scold, scolde, skolde, skalde, borrowed from Old Norse skald (“poet”). Cognate with Icelandic skáld (“poet, scop”).

Noun

scold (plural scolds)

1. A person who habitually scolds, in particular a troublesome and angry woman.
   • 2015 September 14, Paul Krugman, “Labour's dead centre [print version: International New York Times, 15 September 2015, p. 9]”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Consider the contrast with the United States, where deficit scolds dominated Beltway discourse in 2010–2011 but never managed to dictate the terms of political debate […]

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:shrew

Related terms

• scold's bridle

Translations

person who scolds, particularly a woman

• Catalan: renyir (ca)
• Dutch: viswijf (nl), helleveeg (nl), kreng (nl)
• Finnish: kääkkä (fi)
• French: chipie (fr) f, furie (fr) f, mégère (fr) f
• Greek: μέγαιρα (el) f (mégaira), στρίγγλα (el) f (stríngla)
• Irish: agóid f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: bisbetica (it) f, brontolona f, megera (it) f, linguaccia (it) f, linguacciuta f
• Portuguese: megera (pt) f
• Russian: сварли́вая же́нщина f (svarlívaja žénščina), меге́ра (ru) f (megéra)
• Spanish: regañar (es)
• Swedish: argbigga (sv) c

Etymology 2

From Middle English scolden, from the noun (see above).

Verb

scold (third-person singular simple present scolds, present participle scolding, simple past and past participle scolded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To rebuke angrily.
   • 1813, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

     A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her —

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:

     Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.

Derived terms

• outscold

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:criticize

Translations

rebuke

• Arabic: وَبَخَّ (wabaḵḵa)
• Azerbaijani: söymək (az), danlamaq (az)
• Belarusian: ла́яць impf (lájacʹ), га́ніць impf (hánicʹ)
• Bulgarian: гълча́ (bg) impf (gǎlčá)
• Burmese: ဆို (my) (hcui), ဆူ (my) (hcu), မာန် (my) (man), မြည် (my) (mrany), ကြိမ်း (my) (krim:), အော် (my) (au)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 罵／骂 (zh) (mà), 骂 (zh) (mà), 叱 (zh) (chì), 訓斥／训斥 (zh) (xùnchì), 训斥 (zh) (xùnchì), 責罵／责骂 (zh) (zémà), 责骂 (zh) (zémà)

  Dungan: ма (ma)

• Czech: kárat (cs) impf, nadávat (cs) impf
• Danish: skælde ud
• Dutch: bekijven (nl), schelden (nl), berispen (nl)
• Esperanto: skoldi
• Finnish: torua (fi), moittia (fi), nuhdella (fi), parjata (fi)
• French: gronder (fr), réprimander (fr), tancer (fr)
• Galician: rifar (gl)
• German: beschimpfen (de), schelten (de), tadeln (de), ausschimpfen (de)
• Hindi: फटकारना (hi) (phaṭkārnā)
• Icelandic: skamma, hundskamma, ávíta, láta skömmunum rigna yfir, sneypa, (be scolded, get a reprimand) fá skömm í hattinn
• Italian: sgridare, rimproverare (it), riprendere (it)
• Japanese: 叱る (ja) (しかる, shikaru), 罵る (ののしる, nonoshiru)
• Khmer: ចិញ្ច្រាំ (km) (cəñcram), កិន (km) (kən), ជេរ (km) (cei), ដាប់ (km) (dap), ដុក (dok), ទរ (km) (tɔɔ), បន្ទោស (km) (bɑntooh)
• Korean: 꾸짖다 (ko) (kkujitda), 책하다 (ko) (chaekhada), 욕하다 (ko) (yokhada)
• Lao: ຮ້າຍດ່າ (hāi dā), ດ່າ (dā), ປ້ອຍ (pǭi), ຮ້າຽ (hāi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: castīgō, obiurgō
• Macedonian: кара impf (kara)
• Maori: pātotoi, ko(w)hete, kō(w)hete(w)hete, koeka
• Nahuatl: ahhua
• Norwegian: skjenne på, skjelle
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: лаꙗти impf (lajati)

• Old East Slavic: лаꙗти impf (lajati)
• Polish: łajać (pl) impf, karcić impf, rugać impf, besztać (pl) impf, ganić (pl) impf, strofować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: ralhar (pt), repreender (pt)
• Romanian: certa (ro)
• Russian: брани́ть (ru) impf (branítʹ), вы́бранить (ru) pf (výbranitʹ), руга́ть (ru) impf (rugátʹ), отруга́ть (ru) pf (otrugátʹ), жури́ть (ru) impf (žurítʹ) (lightly), кори́ть (ru) impf (korítʹ), распека́ть (ru) impf (raspekátʹ) (colloquial), песо́чить (ru) impf (pesóčitʹ) (colloquial)
• Scottish Gaelic: càin, cronaich, troid
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: изгрдити pf, укорити pf

  Roman: izgrditi (sh) pf, ukoriti (sh) pf

• Slovak: karhať impf, nadávať impf
• Slovene: oštevati impf, ošteti pf, karati impf, okarati pf
• Spanish: regañar (es), retar (es), reñir (es)
• Swedish: gräla på (sv)
• Tagalog: pagalitan, pagsabihan
• Thai: ดุ (th) (dù), ด่า (th) (dàa)
• Ukrainian: свари́ти impf (svarýty), ла́яти impf (lájaty), шпе́тити impf (špétyty), га́нити impf (hányty), карта́ти impf (kartáty)
• Vietnamese: mắng (vi), chửi (vi)

Anagrams

• clods, colds