Word.ws English Dictionary

scurf

/skɜː(ɹ)f/

scurf noun: a skin disease.

Noun (1)

scurf (countable and uncountable, plural scurfs)

  1. A skin disease.
  2. The flakes of skin that fall off as a result of a skin disease.
    Synonyms:
    dandruff
  3. Any crust-like formations on the skin, or in general.
    • There ſtood a Hill not far whoſe frieſly top / Belch'd fire and rowling ſmoak; the reſt entire / Shon with a gloſſie ſcurff, undoubted ſign / That in his womb was hid metallic Ore,1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  4. (figuratively) The foul remains of anything adherent.
    • The Scurf is worn away, of each committed Crime1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 392, line 1011
    Synonyms:
    scum
  5. Minute membranous scales on the surface of some leaves, as in the goosefoot.
  6. (obsolete, slang) A low, mean person.

Noun (2)

scurf (plural scurfs)

  1. A grey bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus).

scurf meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Kannada

scurf in Tamil

சொடுகு, பாடுகு

scurf in Urdu

بھوسی, خشکی, پپڑی

scurf in Bengali

flakes of skin
মরামাস moramaś, খুশকি khuśoki

scurf in Kannada

ತಲೆಹೊಟ್ಟು, ಹೆಡಸು
More languagesFewer languages
scurf in Tagalog
balikuskos

Synonyms of scurf

Forms of scurf

pluralscurfs

Origin of scurf

From scurf (“skin disease causing scabs or scales; flakes of skin that fall off due to a skin disease, etc.”), from Old English scurf, from Proto-Germanic *skurf- (“to gnaw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”). Cognate with Dutch schurft, German Schorf, Danish skurv, Swedish skorv.

Words formed from scurf

Phrases with scurf

Words that rhyme with scurf

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about scurf

What does scurf mean?
Scurf means a skin disease.
What is scurf in Tamil?
Scurf in Tamil is சொடுகு, பாடுகு. See Scurf meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is scurf?
Scurf is a noun.
How do you pronounce scurf?
Scurf is pronounced /skɜː(ɹ)f/.
What is the plural of scurf?
The plural of scurf is scurfs.

Words near scurf in the dictionary

  1. scuppets
  2. scuppie
  3. scuppies
  4. scups
  5. scur
  6. scurf
  7. scurfier
  8. scurfiest
  9. scurfily
  10. scurfin
  11. scurfiness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: scurf (page history and authors); scurf (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scurf (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); scurf (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-scurf.wav.

Cite this entry: “scurf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scurf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.