singe

Meanings

Verb

• To burn slightly.
• To remove the nap of (cloth), by passing it rapidly over a red-hot bar, or over a flame, preliminary to dyeing it.
• To remove the hair or down from (a plucked chicken, etc.) by passing it over a flame.

Noun

• A burning of the surface; a slight burn.

Related

Similar words

• scorch

Origin

• From Middle English sengen, from Old English senġan, sænċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *sangijan ("to burn, torch"), from Proto-Indo-European *senk- ("to burn"). Cognate with West Frisian singe, sinzje, Saterland Frisian soange, Dutch zengen ("to singe, scorch"), German Low German sengen, German sengen ("to singe, scorch"), Icelandic sangur.