Scrabble

See also: scrabble and scrabblé

English

Etymology

A brand name, from the verb scrabble, James Brunot's rebranding (1948) of Alfred Butts's game Criss-Crosswords (1938).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskɹæ.bəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æbəl
• Hyphenation: Scrab‧ble

Proper noun

Scrabble

1. A board game in which players draw letter tiles and take turns to make interlocking words like a crossword, scoring points according to the letters played and their positions on the board.
   • 1985, Margaret Atwood, “Birth Day”, in The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland and Stewart, →ISBN, pages 148–149:

     So that's what's in the forbidden room! Scrabble! I want to laugh, shriek with laughter, fall off my chair. This was once the game of old women, old men, in the summers or in retirement villas, to be played when there was nothing good on television. Or of adolescents, once, long long ago. […] Now of course it's something different. Now it's forbidden, for us.

   • 2000, Eric T. Olson, Tammy Perry Olson, Real-Life Math: Statistics, Walch Publishing,, →ISBN, page 56:

     Start by asking students if they ever watch Wheel of Fortune, or play games like Hangman or Scrabble.® Ask whether they have ever noticed any patterns in the frequency with which letters appear.

   • 2012 August 18, Bill Kurtis, “Listener Limerick Challenge”, Wait Wait... Don’t Tell Me!, National Public Radio:

     At the tournament level I dabble / But my tiles show a meaningless babble / I filled up my ranks / With a few extra blanks / And got busted for cheating at Scrabble

Derived terms

• Scrabbler
• Scrabblist
• Scrabbly

Translations

board game with interlocking words

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拼字游戏 (pīn zì yóu xì)

• Dutch: scrabble (nl) n
• Esperanto: Skrablo
• Finnish: Scrabble, Riti-Rati sanapeli
• French: Scrabble (fr) m
• Galician: Scrabble
• German: Scrabble (de)
• Hebrew: שַׁבֵּץ נָא (he) (shabétz na)
• Hungarian: Scrabble
• Icelandic: Skrafl n
• Italian: Scarabeo m
• Marathi: स्क्रॅबल m (skrĕbal)
• Polish: Scrabble
• Portuguese: Scrabble m
• Romanian: Scrabble n
• Russian: Скрэббл m (Skrɛbbl), Эруди́т (ru) m (Erudít), Словоде́л m (Slovodél) (Russian variants)
• Slovene: Šopi m
• Spanish: Scrabble
• Swedish: Scrabble
• Turkish: Karalama, Dizmece

Anagrams

• clabbers, crabbles

Finnish

Etymology

From English Scrabble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈskrɑb(ː)le/, [ˈs̠krɑ̝b.(b)le̞]
• IPA^(key): /ˈskræbl/, [ˈs̠kræbl]
• Rhymes: -ɑb(ː)le

Proper noun

Scrabble

1. Scrabble (board game with interlocking words)

Declension

• If a plural form is needed, it is better to use the term Scrabble-peli ("game of Scrabble") than Scrabble.

Inflection of Scrabble (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)
nominative		Scrabble	—
genitive		Scrabblen	—
partitive		Scrabblea	—
illative		Scrabbleen	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Scrabble	—
accusative	nom.	Scrabble	—
	gen.	Scrabblen
genitive		Scrabblen	—
partitive		Scrabblea	—
inessive		Scrabblessa	—
elative		Scrabblesta	—
illative		Scrabbleen	—
adessive		Scrabblella	—
ablative		Scrabblelta	—
allative		Scrabblelle	—
essive		Scrabblena	—
translative		Scrabbleksi	—
abessive		Scrabbletta	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Scrabble (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Scrabbleni — accusative nom. Scrabbleni — gen. Scrabbleni genitive Scrabbleni — partitive Scrabbleani — inessive Scrabblessani — elative Scrabblestani — illative Scrabbleeni — adessive Scrabblellani — ablative Scrabbleltani — allative Scrabblelleni — essive Scrabblenani — translative Scrabblekseni — abessive Scrabblettani — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Scrabblesi — accusative nom. Scrabblesi — gen. Scrabblesi genitive Scrabblesi — partitive Scrabbleasi — inessive Scrabblessasi — elative Scrabblestasi — illative Scrabbleesi — adessive Scrabblellasi — ablative Scrabbleltasi — allative Scrabblellesi — essive Scrabblenasi — translative Scrabbleksesi — abessive Scrabblettasi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Scrabblemme — accusative nom. Scrabblemme — gen. Scrabblemme genitive Scrabblemme — partitive Scrabbleamme — inessive Scrabblessamme — elative Scrabblestamme — illative Scrabbleemme — adessive Scrabblellamme — ablative Scrabbleltamme — allative Scrabblellemme — essive Scrabblenamme — translative Scrabbleksemme — abessive Scrabblettamme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Scrabblenne — accusative nom. Scrabblenne — gen. Scrabblenne genitive Scrabblenne — partitive Scrabbleanne — inessive Scrabblessanne — elative Scrabblestanne — illative Scrabbleenne — adessive Scrabblellanne — ablative Scrabbleltanne — allative Scrabblellenne — essive Scrabblenanne — translative Scrabbleksenne — abessive Scrabblettanne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Scrabblensa — accusative nom. Scrabblensa — gen. Scrabblensa genitive Scrabblensa — partitive Scrabbleaan Scrabbleansa — inessive Scrabblessaan Scrabblessansa — elative Scrabblestaan Scrabblestansa — illative Scrabbleensa — adessive Scrabblellaan Scrabblellansa — ablative Scrabbleltaan Scrabbleltansa — allative Scrabblelleen Scrabblellensa — essive Scrabblenaan Scrabblenansa — translative Scrabblekseen Scrabbleksensa — abessive Scrabblettaan Scrabblettansa — instructive — — comitative — —

Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Middle Dutch schrabben

Middle Dutch schrabbelen

English scrabbleder.

English Scrabbleubor.

Portuguese Scrabble

Unadapted borrowing from English Scrabble.

Proper noun

Scrabble m

1. Scrabble (board game with interlocking words)