scarce: [13] Scarce comes via Anglo-Norman scars, earlier escars, from Vulgar Latin *excarpsus ‘picked out’, hence ‘rare’. This was the past participle of *excarpere, an alteration of classical Latin excerpere ‘picked out. select’ (source of English excerpt [17]). And excerpere was a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and carpere ‘pluck’ (source of English carpet and related to harvest). => carpet, excerpt, harvest
scarce (adj.)
c. 1300, "restricted in quantity," from Old North French scars "scanty, scarce" (Old French eschars, Modern French échars) from Vulgar Latin *scarsus, from *escarpsus, from *excarpere "pluck out," from classical Latin excerpere "pluck out" (see excerpt). As an adverb early 14c. from the adjective. Phrase to make oneself scarce "go away" first attested 1771, noted as a current "cant phrase." Related: Scarcely.
雙語例句
1. In some places maps are scarce, and are often crudely produced.
有些地方很少有地圖，而且通常繪制得都很粗糙。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Why is full-frontal male nudity still so scarce in films?
為什么男性正面**的鏡頭在電影里還是如此少見呢？
來自柯林斯例句
3. It probably would be a good idea if you made yourself scarce.
你最好回避一下。
來自柯林斯例句
4. Fresh food is so scarce that prices have rocketed.
新鮮食物非常匱乏，導致價格猛漲。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Scarce water resources are shared between states who cannot trust each other.