Scattered
/ˈskætərd/noun
Spread or dispersed over a wide area; thrown or separated irregularly.
Did you know?The word ultimately comes from a Germanic root behind ideas of cutting and splitting, so English preserves the image of things being broken apart before they’re merely “spread out.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sker-
“to cut, separate, split”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*skadwōną / *skat-
“to scatter, disperse; to cut apart”
Old English
English
sceateren / scateren
“to scatter, disperse”
Middle English
English
scateren
“to scatter, throw loosely about”
Modern English
English
scattered
“spread widely and irregularly; dispersed”