Scanty
/ˈskæn.ti/noun
Insufficient or barely enough; small in amount or extent.
Did you know?Scanty comes from a Germanic root meaning “short” or “scraped down,” and it’s related to words like shank and scant, showing how old languages linked physical smallness with lack.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*skand-
“to leap, spring; possibly a separate older source for related Germanic forms”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*skanta-
“short, scant”
Old Norse
ON
skamr
“short, scanty”
Middle English
ME
scant
“not enough; meager”
16th Century
English
scanty
“small in amount, insufficient”