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Added 9 October 2026

scorch

/skɔːtʃ/ noun

In Latin: adūrō Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about scorch at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A surface burn.
A plant disease that produces a browning or scorched appearance of plant tissues.
A discoloration caused by heat.

verb

Make very hot and dry.
The heat scorched the countryside
Become superficially burned.
my eyebrows singed when I bent over the flames
Destroy completely by or as if by fire.
The wildfire scorched the forest and several homes

Origin

From Middle English scorchen, scorcnen (“to make dry; parch”), perhaps an alteration of earlier *scorpnen, from Old Norse skorpna (“to shrivel up”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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