scarce

Meaning

Adj

1. Uncommon, rare; difficult to find; insufficient to meet a demand.
2. Scantily supplied (with); deficient (in); used with of.

Adv

Scarcely, only just.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈskɛəs/

Etymology

From Middle English scarce, skarce, scarse, scars, from Old Northern French scars, escars ("sparing, niggard, parsimonious, miserly, poor"; > French échars, Medieval Latin scarsus (“diminished, reduced”)), of uncertain origin. One theory is that it derives originally from a Late Latin *scarpsus, *excarpsus, a participle form of *excarpere (“take out”), from Latin ex- + carpere; yet the sense evolution is difficult to trace. Compare Middle Dutch schaers (“sparing, niggard”), Middle Dutch schaers (“a pair of shears, plowshare”), scheeren (“to shear”).