What is the origin of the word unscathed?
Unscathed is recorded around 1325–75. It's made up of the prefix un-, meaning “not,” and scathed. Scathed is based on scathe, a verb meaning principally “to criticize harshly” and, in older use, “hurt or harm.” Fun fact: scathe is borrowed from a Scandinavian (Old Norse) word meaning “to hurt.”
Unscathed is recorded around 1325–75. It's made up of the prefix un-, meaning “not,” and scathed. Scathed is based on scathe, a verb meaning principally “to criticize harshly” and, in older use, “hurt or harm.” Fun fact: scathe is borrowed from a Scandinavian (Old Norse) word meaning “to hurt.”
