Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

scrannel

[skran-l]
See more synonyms for scrannel on Thesaurus.com
adjective Archaic.
  1. thin or slight.
  2. squeaky or unmelodious.
Show More

Origin of scrannel

First recorded in 1630–40; origin uncertain
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for scrannel

Historical Examples

  • Suspicion, take it all in all, is the most tedious and scrannel of the sins.

    The Book of This and That

    Robert Lynd

  • The shell they struck gave a more melodious sound than the rough and scrannel pipe cut from the northern forests.

British Dictionary definitions for scrannel

scrannel

adjective archaic
  1. thin
  2. harsh
Show More

Word Origin

C17: probably from Norwegian skran lean. Compare scrawny
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for scrannel

adj.

"thin, meager," 1630s; any modern use traces to Milton ("Lycidas," 124), who may have invented it out of dialectal scranny (see scrawny). Or it might be from a Scandinavian source akin to Norwegian skran "rubbish." Cf. English dialectal and Scottish skran "scraps, broken victuals; refuse," in military slang "food."

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper