scarf

English

Man wearing a red scarf

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /skɑːf/
• (US) IPA^(key): /skɑːɹf/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)f

Etymology 1

Probably from Old Northern French escarpe (compare Old French escharpe (“pilgrim's purse suspended from the neck”), which see). The verb is derived from the noun. Doublet of scrip.

Noun

scarf (plural scarves or scarfs)

1. A long, often knitted, garment worn around the neck.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

2. A headscarf.
3. (dated) A neckcloth or cravat.

Derived terms

• Ascot scarf
• head scarf
• head-scarf
• infinity scarf
• Möbius scarf
• Palestinian scarf
• pioneer scarf
• red scarf
• scarf-skin

 

Descendants

• → Irish: scairf, scaif
• → Welsh: sgarff

Translations

long garment worn around the neck

• Albanian: shall (sq)
• Arabic: وِشَاح m (wišāḥ)

  Algerian Arabic: كَاشْنِي m (kāšni)

  Gulf Arabic: شَال m (šāl)

  Hijazi Arabic: شَال m (šāl)

• Armenian: վզնոց (hy) (vznocʻ), շարֆ (hy) (šarf)
• Asturian: bufanda f
• Azerbaijani: kaşne, şarf
• Bashkir: шарф (şarf)
• Belarusian: ша́лік m (šálik), шарф m (šarf)
• Bengali: স্কার্ফ (bn) (skarpho)
• Breton: skerb (br)
• Bulgarian: шал (bg) m (šal), шарф m (šarf)
• Burmese: လည်စည်းပဝါ (lanycany:pa.wa)
• Catalan: bufanda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 頸巾 / 颈巾 (geng² gan¹)

  Mandarin: 領巾 / 领巾 (zh) (lǐngjīn), 圍巾 / 围巾 (zh) (wéijīn), 圍脖兒 / 围脖儿 (zh) (wéibór) (colloquial)

• Czech: šála (cs) f
• Danish: halstørklæde (da) n
• Dutch: das (nl) m, sjaal (nl)
• Elfdalian: åserumkläð n
• Esperanto: skarpo, koltuko, kolskarpo
• Estonian: sall (et)
• Faroese: hálsturriklæði n
• Finnish: kaulahuivi (fi), kaulaliina (fi)
• French: écharpe (fr) f, cache-nez (fr) m
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: bufanda (gl) f, tapabocas (gl) m, chafandín m
• Georgian: ფერდი (perdi)
• German: Schal (de) m
• Greek: κασκόλ (el) (kaskól)

  Ancient: ὀράριον n (orárion)

• Greenlandic: qungasequt
• Haitian Creole: foula
• Hebrew: צָעִיף (he) m (tsa'if)
• Hindi: दुपट्टा (hi) (dupaṭṭā)
• Hungarian: sál (hu), nyaksál (hu)
• Icelandic: trefill (is) m
• Ido: sharpo (io)
• Indonesian: syal (id), selempang leher
• Ingrian: šarffi, kaglarätti, kaglašarffi
• Irish: scairf f, cochall m, muifléad m, scaif f
• Italian: sciarpa (it) f
• Japanese: 襟巻き (えりまき, erimaki), 首巻き (くびまき, kubimaki), マフラー (ja) (mafurā), スカーフ (ja) (sukāfu)
• Kazakh: шарф (şarf), мойынорағыш (moiynorağyş)
• Khmer: កន្សែងរុំក (kɑnsaeng rum kɑɑ), ក្រមា (km) (krɑmaa), កន្សែង (km) (kɑnsaeng)
• Korean: 목도리 (mokdori), 스카프 (seukapeu), 머플러 (meopeulleo)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مل بەست (mil best)

• Kyrgyz: шарф (şarf)
• Lao: ຜ້າພັນຄໍ (lo) (phā phan khǭ)
• Latin: fōcāle n
• Latvian: šalle f
• Lithuanian: šãlikas m
• Luxembourgish: Schal (lb) m
• Macedonian: шал m (šal), ша́мија f (šámija), ма́рама (mk) f (márama)
• Malay: skaf
• Maltese: xalla f
• Manx: bussal mwannal m
• Maori: kāmeta
• Mongolian: ороолт (mn) (oroolt)
• Navajo: asdzání bichʼah, zéédéełdoii
• Norman: êcharpe f, mouoché m
• Northern Sami: šearfa, čeabetliidni, kuššát
• Norwegian: skjerf (no) n
• Old Church Slavonic: оуброусъ m (ubrusŭ)
• Persian: شال (fa) (šâl)
• Plautdietsch: Binj f
• Polish: szalik (pl) m
• Portuguese: cachecol (pt) m, echarpe (pt) f
• Quechua: haku
• Romanian: eșarfă (ro) f, șal (ro) n, fular (ro) n
• Romansch: schal m, schlingia f
• Russian: шарф (ru) m (šarf), кашне́ (ru) n (kašnɛ́), шаль (ru) f (šalʹ) (shawl), га́лстук (ru) m (gálstuk) (scout's or pioneer's scarf)
• Scottish Gaelic: stoc m, sgarfa m, crabhat f, crabhata f, coineathal f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: шал m

  Roman: šal (sh) m

• Slovak: šál m
• Slovene: šal (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: šawl m

• Spanish: bufanda (es) f
• Swedish: halsduk (sv) c
• Tajik: гарданбанд (tg) (gardanband), шарф (šarf), гарданпеч (gardanpeč)
• Tatar: шарф (şarf)
• Thai: ผ้าพันคอ (th) (pâa-pan-kɔɔ)
• Turkish: fular (tr)
• Turkmen: şarf, ýaglyk (tk)
• Ukrainian: шарф m (šarf), ша́лик m (šályk), кашне́ n (kašné)
• Urdu: سکارف (skārf)
• Uzbek: roʻmol (uz), sharf (uz)
• Vietnamese: khăn choàng cổ, khăn quàng cổ (vi), khăn quàng (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: sgarff f, sgarffiau f pl
• West Flemish: sjerpe f
• Winnebago: waipere winąpʼį
• Yiddish: שאַל m (shal)

headscarf — see headscarf

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

1. To throw on loosely; to put on like a scarf.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     My sea-gown scarfed about me.

2. To dress with a scarf, or as with a scarf; to cover with a loose wrapping.

Alternative forms

• scarve

Etymology 2

A scarf joint

Sewing machine needles with scarf shown on right

Of uncertain origen. Possibly from Old Norse skarfr, derivative of skera (“to cut”).

Noun

scarf (plural scarfs)

1. A type of joint in woodworking, formed by two shaped ends that fit into or onto each other.
2. A groove on one side of a sewing machine needle.
3. A dip or notch or cut made in the trunk of a tree to direct its fall when felling.

Translations

a cut made into the trunk of a tree when felling

• Maori: hāngi, umu, taraumu, tarawaha

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

1. To shape by grinding or oxyfuel torch cutting.
2. To form a scarf on the end or edge of, as for a joint in timber, forming a "V" groove for welding adjacent metal plates, metal rods, etc.
3. To unite, as two pieces of timber or metal, by a scarf joint.

Derived terms

• scarfer

Etymology 3

Generally thought to be a variant, attested since the 1950s, of scoff (“eat (quickly)”) (of which scorf is another attested variant), itself a variant of scaff. Sometimes alternatively suggested to be a dialectal survival of Old English scearfian, sceorfan (“gnaw, bite”) (compare scurf).

Verb

scarf (third-person singular simple present scarfs, present participle scarfing, simple past and past participle scarfed)

1. (transitive, US, slang) To eat very quickly.

   Synonyms: (UK) scoff, guzzle

   You sure scarfed that pizza.

   • 1983, Raymond Carver, Cathedral:

     We dug in. We ate everything there was to eat on the table. We ate like there was no tomorrow. We didn't talk. We ate. We scarfed. We grazed that table. We were into serious eating. We finished everything, including half a strawberry pie.

Derived terms

• scarf and barf
• scarf down

Translations

scarf down — see scarf down

Etymology 4

From Old Norse skarfr.

Noun

scarf (plural scarfs)

1. (Scotland) A cormorant.

Alternative forms

• scart, skart

Etymology 5

Noun

scarf (countable and uncountable, plural scarfs)

1. Archaic form of scurf (“skin disease; skin flakes”).

References

• “scarf”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• carfs, fracs

Old High German

Alternative forms

• scarph

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *skarp, see also Old Saxon skarp, Old English scearp, Old Norse skarpr.

Adjective

scarf

1. sharp

Descendants

• Middle High German: scharpf
  • Alemannic German: scharpf
  • Bavarian: scharf
  • Central Franconian: schärp, scharp (eastern Ripuarian), scharf (Moselle Franconian; now alternatively in Ripuarian via German)
  • German: scharf
  • Hunsrik: schaaref
  • Luxembourgish: schaarf
  • Yiddish: שאַרף (sharf)