overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

scant.

Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/skænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/skant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/skæːnt/Australia/skɛnt/New-Zealand

  1. Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager.

    a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment

  2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary.

  3. Slightly diminished; just short of the amount described.

    a scant cup of sugar
Where this word comes from

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

verb/skænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/skant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/skæːnt/Australia/skɛnt/New-Zealand

  1. To limit in amount or share; to stint.

    transitive
    to scant someone in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries

  2. To fail, or become less; to scantle.

    intransitive
    The wind scants.
Where this word comes from

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

det/skænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/skant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/skæːnt/Australia/skɛnt/New-Zealand

  1. Very little, very few.

    After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John.
Where this word comes from

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

noun/skænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/skant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/skæːnt/Australia/skɛnt/New-Zealand

  1. A small piece or quantity.

  2. Scarcity; lack.

    uncommon

  3. A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.

  4. A sheet of stone.

  5. A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.

Where this word comes from

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

adv/skænt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/skant/British, Northern-England, Scotland, Southern, Standard, Wales/skæːnt/Australia/skɛnt/New-Zealand

  1. With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.

    dated · not-comparable · uncommon
Where this word comes from

Adjective and determiner from Middle English scant, from Old Norse skamt, neuter of skammr (“short”), from Proto-Germanic *skammaz (“short”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱem- (“mutilated, hornless”). Verb from Middle English scanten, from the adjective. Noun and adverb from Middle English scant, from the adjective.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

scant has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

scant studioscant workshello, scant

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.