skirmish
SKUR-mish · noun
Origin
From Middle English skirmish (as a verb), borrowed from Old French escarmouche, which came from Italian scaramuccia, earlier schermugio.
This is Curio: one word's origin story, every morning. No feed, no backlog.
One short email each morning. Free; stop anytime. See a sample →
Journey
The word passed from Italian into French and then into Middle English as a verb before settling into the noun we use today.
Related words
It's a doublet of escarmouche, Scaramouche, and Scaramucci — all descending from the same Italian root.
More words
Nearby, A–Z