mar (v.)

Middle English merren "to deface, disfigure; impair in form or substance" (early 13c.), from Old English merran (Anglian), mierran (West Saxon) "to waste, spoil," from Proto-Germanic *marzjan (source also of Old Frisian meria, Old High German marren "to hinder, obstruct," Gothic marzjan "to hinder, offend"), from PIE root *mers- "to trouble, confuse" (source also of Sanskrit mrsyate "forgets, neglects," Lithuanian miršti "to forget"). For vowel change, see marsh. Related: Marred; marring.

also from early 13c.

Entries linking to mar

marsh (n.)

"tract of water-soaked or partially flooded land; wet, swampy ground; piece of low ground, usually more or less wet but often nearly dry at certain seasons," Middle English mersh, from Old English mersc, merisc "marsh, swamp," from Proto-Germanic *marisko (source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon marsk "marsh," Middle Dutch mersch, Dutch mars, German Marsch, Danish marsk), probably from Proto-Germanic *mari- "sea" (from PIE root *mori- "body of water").

The vowel shift from -e- to -a- began in 15c. and is usual for -er- followed by a consonant: Compare darling (Middle English dereling, Old English deorling), far (Middle English fer, Old English feorr), mar (Middle English merren), hart (Middle English hert, Old English heorot). Marsh gas "methane generated by decaying matter in marshes" is attested by 1819.

marplot (n.)

"one who by officious interference defeats a design," 1708, the name of a character in Susanna Centlivre's comedy "The busie body;" from mar (v.) + plot (n.).

unmarred (adj.)

c. 1200, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of mar (v.).

Trends of mar

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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impair

late 14c., a re-Latinizing of earlier ampayre, apeyre "make worse, cause to deteriorate" (c. 1300), from Old French empeirier "make worse" (Modern French empirer), from Vulgar Latin *impeiorare "make worse," from assimilated form of in- "into, in" (from PIE root *en "in") + Late

spoil

c. 1300, spoilen, "strip (someone) violently of clothes, strip a slain enemy," from Anglo-French espoiller, Old French espoillier, espillier "strip, plunder, pillage" and directly from Latin spoliare "strip, uncover, lay bare; strip of clothing, rob, plunder, pillage," a verb fro

deflower

late 14c., deflouren, "deprive (a maiden) of her virginity," also "excerpt the best parts of (a book)," from Old French desflorer (13c., Modern French déflorer) "to deflower (a garden); to take the virginity of" and directly from Late Latin deflorare, from de- (see de-) + flos "f

manticore

scorpion, c. 1300, from Latin manticora, from Greek mantikhoras, corruption of martikhoras, perhaps from Iranian compound *mar-tiya-khvara...The first element is represented by Old Persian maritya- "man," from PIE *mar-t-yo-, from *mer- "to die," thus "mortal, human...

disfigure

late 14c., "mar the external figure of, impair the beauty, symmetry, or excellence of," also "transform the appearance of...

blemish

From mid-15c. as "mar the beauty or soundness of."...

mare

mare "incubus, nightmare, monster," from mera, mære, from Proto-Germanic *maron "goblin" (source also of Middle Low German mar...

scratch

c. 1400, scracchen, transitive, "mark or wound slightly on the surface by a scraping or tearing action with something rough, sharp, or pointed," probably a fusion of Middle English scratten and crachen, both meaning "to scratch," both of uncertain origin. Also compare scr-. Relat

blot

late 14c., "a spot or stain of ink;" also "a moral stain or blemish, a disgrace, a sin;" a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Norse blettr "blot, stain," or from Old French blot, variant of bloc "block." The Middle English Compendium compares, hesitantly, Old French blo(s

bolt

Old English bolt "short, stout arrow with a heavy head;" also "crossbow for throwing bolts," from Proto-Germanic *bultas (source also of Old Norse bolti, Danish bolt, Dutch bout, German Bolzen), perhaps originally "arrow, missile," and from PIE *bheld- "to knock, strike" (source

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updated on November 21, 2018

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