Other forms: scums
Scum is a dirty film on a liquid, or people held in contempt. Scum on the surface, skim off the scum, pond scum.
The literal sense is what rises and sits on top — fat, protein, algae — and skimming it is a routine step in cooking stock. As an insult it is among the strongest available and is aimed at a group as often as a person. Note that the word came from Dutch and originally meant foam.
1nounscumA dirty film on the surface of a liquid.
“A layer of green scum covered the old pond behind the house.”
2nounheldPeople held in contempt.
“Anyone who steals from a charity is scum, if you ask me.”
scum is a surface film, or an insult.
Middle Dutch schume means foam, from a Germanic root. Skim comes from the same froth.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)kewH- — to cover, conceal
Proto-Germanic
*skūmaz — froth, foam
Frankish
*skūm
Old Dutch
*scūm
Middle Dutch
schūme — foam
Middle English
scum
English, today
scum
From Middle English scum, scome, skum, skome, scumme, from Middle Low German - or Middle Dutch schūme (“foam”), from Old Dutch scūm, from Frankish skūm, from Proto-Germanic skūmaz (“froth, foam”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)kewH- (“to cover, conceal”). Cognate with Dutch schuim (“foam”), West Frisian skuum, German Schaum (“foam”), Danish - and Swedish - skum (“foam”). Compare also French écume (“scum”), Italian schiuma (“foam”), stq Skuum, Sicilian scuma (“foam”), wa schome (“scum, foam”), Lithuanian šamas (“catfish”) and skanus (“tasty”) from the same Germanic source. Related to skim.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire