SCURVY

PRONUNCIATION: (SKUHR-vee)

MEANING:
adjective: Mean or contemptible.
noun: A disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, characterized by swollen and bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and weakness.

ETYMOLOGY: From Old English scurf, probably from Old Norse. Ultimately from the Indo-European root sker- (cut), which also gave us decorticate, excoriate, hardscrabble, incarnadine, scrobiculate, and caruncle. Earliest documented use: 1529.
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SCURLY - sounding like a bagpipes

SMURVY - like an ever-so-cute blue dwarv

SCURVEY - winding (see also SWURVY)