Scar
/skɑːr/noun
A mark left on the skin or other tissue after a wound, burn, or other injury has healed.
Did you know?English scar likely comes through Old Norse skarð, meaning a notch or gap, and it shares a deep Indo-European root with words like share and shear — the same ancient idea of cutting, splitting, and separating.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sker-
“to cut, separate”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*skarđaz
“a notch, gap, or cut”
Old Norse
ON
skarð
“a notch, gap, opening in something”
Middle English
English
scar
“a notch, cut, or mark left by injury”
Modern English
English
scar
“a healed mark left on the skin or body after injury”