scurvy

CEFRB2

/ˈskɜːvi/

noun · adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A disease caused by not having enough vitamin C.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Very unpleasant or worthless.

Examples

  • We'll surely avoid scurvy if we all eat an orange.

  • Make sure you don't get scurvy.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Of a person or thing: disgustingly mean; contemptible, despicable, low.

  2. Of growths on plants: resembling scurf; scurfy.

adjective

Extra meaning

  1. Affected or covered with scurf (“skin disease causing flakes of skin to fall off”) or scabs; scurfy, scabby; also, of or relating to a skin disease causing scurf or to scurvy (noun noun sense 1).

More examples

In context

  • a scurvy knave a scurvy trick

  • The bran of VVheate boiled in ſharpe vineger, and rubbed vpon them that be ſcuruie and mangie, easeth the partie very much.

  • Some wenches come vnlased, / Some hyswyues come vnbrased, / Wyth theyr naked pappes, / That flappes and flappes; / […] / A sorte of foule drabbes / All scuruy with scabbes: […]

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Sailors who lacked fresh fruit on long voyages often developed the painful disease called blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English scurvi, scurvy, variants of scurfi (“having scurf, scabby”), from scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Scurf is derived from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). By surface analysis, scurf (“skin disease; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease; crust-like formations on the skin”) + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). The noun is derived from the adjective. It was used to translate the similar-sounding D...