scathe
/skeɪð
/archaic
verb [with object and usually with negative]
1Harm; injure: he was barely scathed...
- He'd been hit a few times, but for someone of his magnitude, it barely scathed him.
1.1 literary Damage or destroy by fire or lightning: the pine tree scathed by lightning-fire...
- The little wiry bushes that grow all over Yosemite seem to be barely scathed by the flames in places, a tribute to their hardiness.
noun [mass noun]
Harm; injury: it was cheering to hear that you had got through winter and diphtheria without scathe
Derivatives
scatheless
Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse skathi (noun), skatha (verb); related to Dutch and German schaden (verb).