Scant
/skænt/noun
Insufficient in amount, size, or extent; barely enough.
Did you know?English scant comes from a Scandinavian source meaning “short” or “cut short,” and it eventually became a word for anything meager, stingy, or barely enough.
Etymological Timeline
Old Norse
ON
skamt
“short; brief; not far”
Middle English
ME
scant
“short; scanty; meager”
15th Century
English
scant
“to make too little of; to limit or diminish”
Modern English
English
scant
“barely sufficient; meager”