scatter

Wikipedia

English

Etymology

From Middle English scateren, from Old English sceaterian, probably from a dialect of Old Norse. Compare Low German schateren, Dutch schateren and Norwegian skratte ('to burst out laughing').

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætə(r)

Verb

scatter (third-person singular simple present scatters, present participle scattering, simple past and past participle scattered)

1. (ergative) To (cause to) separate and go in different directions; to disperse.

   the police scattered the crowds

   the crowd scattered

2. (transitive) To distribute loosely as by sprinkling.

   Her ashes were scattered at the top of a waterfall.

3. (transitive) (physics) To deflect (radiation or particles).
4. (intransitive) To occur or fall at widely spaced intervals.

Derived terms

• scatterbrain
• scatterplot
• scattershot

Translations

to cause to separate

• Arabic: نثر (ar) (náṯara), تفرق (ar) (tafárraqa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 散佈 (cmn), 散布 (cmn) (sànbù)

• Dutch: verstrooien, verspreiden
• Finnish: sirottaa (fi)
• French: disperser (fr)
• German: zerstreuen (de)
• Italian: disperdere (it)
• Japanese: (defuse) 散らす (ja) (chirasu); (causing mess) 散らかす (ja) (chirakasu)
• Korean: 흩다 (ko) (heutda), 뿌리다 (ko) (ppurida)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spre

  Nynorsk: spreie

• Portuguese: espalhar (pt), dispersar (pt)
• Russian: разбрасывать (ru) (razbrásyvat’) impf., разбросать (ru) (razbrosát’) pf.
• Spanish: esparcir (es)
• Swedish: sprida (sv), strö (sv), strö ut (sv), skingra (sv)
• Telugu: చెదురు {cheduru}
• Turkish: dağılmak (tr), yaymak (tr)

to distribute loosely

• Crimean Tatar: cayratmaq
• Dutch: verstrooien, verspreiden
• Esperanto: disĵeti (eo)
• Finnish: sirotella (fi)
• French: éparpiller (fr), parsemer (fr)
• German: streuen (de)
• Italian: sparpagliare (it), cospargere (it)
• Japanese: (other than seeds) 撒く (ja) (maku), 散布する (ja) (sanpu suru); (for seeds) 蒔く (ja) (maku); (for seeds in a broad area) 播く (ja) (maku)

• Norwegian: strø (no)
• Portuguese: espalhar (pt)
• Russian: разбрасывать (ru) (razbrásyvat’) impf., разбросать (ru) (razbrosát’) pf., разбрызгивать (ru) (razbrýzgivat’) impf., разбрызгать (ru) (razbrýzgat’) pf. (liquid)
• Scottish Gaelic: breac (gd), fras (gd)
• Swedish: beströ (sv)
• Turkish: saçmak (tr), savurmak (tr), serpmek (tr), serpiştirmek (tr)

physics: to deflect

• Dutch: verstrooien
• Finnish: sirottaa (fi)
• Italian: deflettere (it)
• Japanese: 散乱する (ja) (sanran suru)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spre

  Nynorsk: spreie

• Russian: рассеивать (ru) (rasséivat’) impf., рассеять (ru) (rasséjat’) pf.
• Swedish: sprida (sv)

to disperse

• Dutch: uiteenspatten, uiteengaan
• Finnish: sirota (fi)
• French: se disperser (fr)
• Italian: disperdersi (it)
• Japanese: 散る (ja) (chiru), 散らばる (ja) (chirabaru)
• Korean: 흩어지다 (heutEojida)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: spre

  Nynorsk: spreie

• Portuguese: espalhar (pt)
• Swedish: skingras (sv), skingra (sv) sig
• Telugu: చెదురు {cheduru}

to occur at intervals

• Italian: dilazionarsi

• Swedish: sprida (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: نثر (náθara)
• Mandarin: 散佈 (sànbù)
• Esperanto: ŝuti
• Kannada: ಚದರು (kn) (cadaru), ಎರಚು (kn) (eracu), ಈಡಾಡು (kn) (īḍāḍu), ಚಲ್ಲು (kn) (callu), ಬೀರು (kn) (bīru), ಸೀರು (kn) (sīru), ಕೊಡಹು (kn) (koḍahu), ಬಿದಿರು (kn) (bidiru)
• Spanish: esparcir
• Turkish: dağılmak, etrafa yayılmak