scarsnesse

== Middle English == === Alternative forms === scaarsnes, scarsenes, scarsenesse, skarcenes, skarsenes, skarsnesse scarnes, scarnesse, skarnes (especially Cambridgeshire); scarsnes, skarisnes (Northern, Northeast Midland) scarsnese, skarsnes (Northamptonshire); skarsnees (Suffolk) === Etymology === From scars (“scarce, stingy”) +‎ -nesse (“-ness”); first attested in c. 1340. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈskaːrsnɛs(ə)/, /ˈskarsnɛs(ə)/ IPA(key): /ˈskaːrnɛs(ə)/, /ˈskarnɛs(ə)/ (with simplification of /rsn/) === Noun === scarsnesse (uncountable) Scarcity, dearth; the state of being insufficient. Synonym: scarsite Rarity, uncommonness; the state of being rare: Synonym: scarsite Paucity, scantiness; the state of being few. Stinginess, frugality; lack of generosity. Synonym: scarsite Temperance or moderation (in food or drink) Synonym: scarsite ==== Descendants ==== English: scarceness Middle Scots: scarcenes, scarsnes ==== References ==== “scā̆rsnes(se, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007. “scarceness, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. “scarsnes, scaircenes, skairnes, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.