scurfy

English

Alternative forms

• scurvy

Etymology

From scurf +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskɜː(ɹ)fi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)fi

Adjective

scurfy (comparative scurfier, superlative scurfiest)

1. Characterized by scurf; covered with scurf.
   • 1848 December, “Pacific Ocean: The Island of Bornabi”, in The Nautical Magazine and Naval Chronicle, volume 17, number 12, page 647:

     Many of these natives, especially the lower classes, and fishermen, have their skins disfigured in a singular manner, by a sort of scurfy disease, similar to the ring-worm, or rather to a person whose skin was peeling off from the effects of the sun.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 247:

     "[A]nd who do you think were sittting there? Why, my mother and your father of course, both mending boots; and all of a sudden my mother gave your father such a blow with an old boot, that the scurf flew out of his hair!" "There you tell a lie," shouted the princess; "my father never was scurfy!"

Derived terms

• northern scurfy Quaker moth
• scurfy pea

Translations

characterized by scurf, scabby

• Bulgarian: покрит с пърхот (pokrit s pǎrhot)
• Finnish: hilseilevä
• German: schorfig (de), verschorft (de), verkrustet (de), grindig (de)