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scathe

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Harm, damage, or injury; to injure or destroy—used both literally and figuratively to convey ruin or moral corruption.

Detailed Definition
“Scathe” conveys lasting harm—“without scathe” means unharmed. In poetry, it describes physical or moral injury. The term’s harshness mirrors pain. Poets use it to explore vulnerability, where scathe tests resilience, reinforcing themes of protection, consequence, and the body’s fragility in narrative and elegiac traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The curse brought scathe upon the house,” in a prophetic lament; In Spenser: “No scathe shall touch the leal and true”; “Her words left scathe upon his pride”; “The frost’s scathe killed the tender bloom”; “Scathe not the innocent with your wrath”; The dragon’s breath brought scathe to the valley.
Additional Notes
“Scathe” (from Old Norse “skatha”) denotes ruinous harm; though rare today, it persists in poetic invocations of divine punishment or natural disaster, where “unscathed” survival marks miraculous grace amid widespread devastation.
Also Known As
harm injure damage
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