English

Etymology 1

Latin scala , "ladder", cognate with scandere , "to climb", "to mount".

Noun

scale

1. An ordered numerical sequence used for measurement

   Please rate your experience on a scale from 1 to 10

2. size; scope

   The Holocaust was insanity on an enormous scale.

3. The ratio of depicted distance to actual distance

   This map uses a scale of 1:10

4. A means of assigning a magnitude

   the open-ended Richter scale

5. (music) a series of notes spanning an octave, tritave , or pseudo-octave used to make melodies

Translations

ordered numerical sequence

size or scope

ratio of distances

assigning a magnitude

series of notes

Verb

to scale

1. (transitive) To change the size of, maintaining proportion

   We should scale that up by a factor of 10

2. (transitive) To climb

   Hilary and Norgay were the first known to have scaled Everest

3. (intransitive) (computing) To tolerate significant increases in throughput or other potentially limiting factors

   That architecture won't scale to real-world environments

Translations

change size of

climb

tolerate increases in throughput

Related Terms

• major scale
• minor scale
• modal scale

Etymology 2

Old French escale (French écale ), "husk", "chip", Old High German scala .

Noun

scale

1. Part of an overlapping arrangement of many small, flat and hard pieces of keratin covering the skin of an animal, particularly a fish or reptile
2. A small piece of pigmented chitin, many of which coat the wings of a butterfly or moth to give them their color.
3. A flake of skin of an animal afflicted with dermatitis .
4. A pine nut of a pinecone
5. The flaky material sloughed off heated metal
6. scale mail

Translations

keratin pieces covering the skin of certain animals

coloured chitin

flake of skin

pine nut

Flaky material sloughed off heated metal

scale mail

Verb

to scale

1. (transitive) To remove the scales of

   Please scale that fish for dinner

2. (intansitive) To become scaly; to produce or develop scales

   The dry weather is making my skin scale

Translations

remove the scales of

become scaly

Etymology 3

Old Norse skal , "bowl". Confer Old English scealu , "cup", "shell", Dutch schaal , German Schale , Old High German scala , Gothic skalja . Cognate with "scale" as in Etymology 2.

Noun

scale

1. a device to measure mass or weight
2. either of the pans, trays, or dishes of a balance

Translations

• German: Waage f (1), Waagschale f (2)