scab
/skæb/noun, verb
scab is spelled S-C-A-B: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, scab means “An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of scab is scabs.
How many letters and syllables are in scab?
| Letters | 4: S-C-A-B |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 37,459th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is scab?
Scab appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 37,459th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce scab?
- /skæb/
Scab has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-scab.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of scab
- scabs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- scabbing participle, present
- scabbed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scab mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An incrustation over a sore, wound, vesicle, or pustule, formed during healing.
- 2
colloquialobsoleteThe scabies.
- 3
The mange, especially when it appears on sheep.
- 4
Any of several different diseases of potatoes producing pits and other damage on their surface, caused by streptomyces bacteria (but formerly believed to be caused by a fungus).
- 5
Common scab, a relatively harmless variety of scab (potato disease) caused by Streptomyces scabies.
- 6
Any one of various more or less destructive fungal diseases that attack cultivated plants, forming dark-colored crustlike spots.
- 7
A slight irregular protuberance which defaces the surface of a casting, caused by the breaking away of a part of the mold.
- 8
A mean, dirty, paltry fellow.
verb
- 1
To become covered by a scab or scabs.
- 2
To form into scabs and be shed, as damaged or diseased skin.
- 3
To remove part of a surface (from).
- 4
To act as a strikebreaker.
- 5
AustraliaUKinformalTo beg (for), to cadge or bum.
I scabbed some money off a friend.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Scab in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | croûte , s'encroûter |
| German | Schorf, Kruste, Wundschorf, Wundkruste , Kartoffelschorf |
| Portuguese | crosta, bostela, casquinha, casca, cascão |
| Spanish | costra, carnero, postilla, grano, encostradura |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does scab come from?
From Middle English scabb, scabbe (also as shabbe, schabbe > English shab), from Old English sċeabb and Old Norse skabb, both from Proto-Germanic *skabbaz (“scab, scabies”), from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (“to cut, split, carve, shape”). Doublet of shab. Cognate with German Schabe (“scabies”), Danish skab (“scab, scabies”), Swedish skabb (“scab, scabies”), Latin scabies (“scab, itch, mange”). Related also to Old English scafan (“to scrape, shave”), Latin scabere (“to scratch”), English shabby.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).