scant
/skænt/adjective, verb, determiner, noun, adverb
scant is spelled S-C-A-N-T: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, scant means “Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in scant?
| Letters | 5: S-C-A-N-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.3 times per million words; the 25,367th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is scant?
Scant appears 1.3 times per million words in written English, the 25,367th 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 scant?
- US /skænt/
- British /skant/
- Australia /skæːnt/
Scant 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-scant.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-scant.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with scant?
10 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as scant from its last stressed vowel (/ænt/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of scant
- scanter comparative
- scantest superlative
- scants present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- scanting participle, present
- scanted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does scant mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.
a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment
- 2
Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
- 3
Slightly diminished; just short of the amount described.
a scant cup of sugar
verb
- 1
To limit in amount or share; to stint.
to scant someone in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries
- 2
To fail, or become less; to scantle.
The wind scants.
determiner
- 1
Very little, very few.
After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John.
noun
- 1
A small piece or quantity.
- 2
Scarcity; lack.
Even if labour were diverted to a great extent from our grand staple, the cotton manufacture, we are not prepared to admit that the country would be worse off. The worst that could happen in such a case would be, that for a few years, durin
- 3
A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
- 4
A sheet of stone.
- 5
A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.
adverb
- 1
datedWith difficulty; scarcely; hardly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Scant in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Spanish | escaso, magro , exiguo |
| French | insuffisant, rare, maigre |
| German | spärlich, gering, dürftig, knapp, kaum |
| Portuguese | escasso |
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 scant come from?
Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).