# scarecrow

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/ · frequency rank #25,919

## Definitions
1. An effigy, typically made of straw and dressed in old clothes, fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there.
2. A person or animal regarded as resembling a scarecrow (sense 1) in some way; especially, a tall, thin, awkward person; or a person wearing ragged and tattered clothes.
3. Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”).
4. Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper tiger.
5. Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.
6. The black tern (Chlidonias niger).
7. The hooded crow (Corvus cornix).

## Etymology
The noun is derived from scare (“to frighten, startle, terrify”) + crow (“bird of the genus Corvus”). The word displaced other terms such as bogle (now dialectal, dated), sewel or shewel, and shoy-hoy (perhaps imitative of the cry of crows).
The verb is derived from the noun.

## Common misspellings (14)
`csarecrow`, `sacrecrow`, `scaercrow`, `scarcerow`, `scareccrow`, `scarecorw`, `scarecroww`, `scarecrrow`, `scarecrwo`, `scarercow`, `scarrecrow`, `sccarecrow`, `scraecrow`, `sscarecrow`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/scarecrow