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scarab

UK/ˈskæɹəb/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #11,898 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: scarabs

A scarab is a beetle carved as a charm in ancient Egypt. A stone scarab, scarab amulet, carved scarabs.

The living insect is a dung beetle, which rolls a ball of dung across the ground — and the Egyptians read that as an image of the sun being pushed across the sky, which is why it stood for rebirth. Thousands survive, carved in stone and glazed pottery. Note that the Latin simply means beetle.

Definitions of scarab

  1. 1nounscarabA beetle carved as a charm in ancient Egypt.C1

    “The museum shop sells copies of a blue stone scarab found in a pharaoh's tomb.”

scarab is a charm.

Where it comes from

Latin scarabaeus means a beetle. The word came into English through French.

  1. Latin

    scarabaeus — beetle

  2. Middle French

    scarabée

  3. English, today

    scarab

From Middle French scarabée, from Latin scarabaeus (“beetle”). a doublet of scarabaeus, now obsolete.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

scarab in the wild

  • The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles.

    Scarabaeidae

  • Khepri is a scarab-faced god in ancient Egyptian religion who represents the rising or morning sun.

    Khepri

  • Glaresis is a genus of beetles, sometimes called "enigmatic scarab beetles", in its own family, Glaresidae.

    Glaresis

  • Though primarily worn as amulets and sometimes rings, scarabs were also inscribed for use as personal or administrative seals or were incorporated into other kinds of jewelry.

    Scarab (artifact)

  • Additionally, scarabs held religious significance and played a role in Egyptian funerary practices.

    Scarab (artifact)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.