# what's a scissor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291 "2009-03-30T11:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/1 "2009-03-30T11:21:56Z")
scissors - they’re plural, and are referred to as a pair of scissors. so what is a scissor, other than being a sharp knife? was the item (or the word) ever used in the singular, until someone joined two blades together? ---
**Author:** ![MeDrewNotYou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/2 "2009-03-30T11:45:43Z")
[According to Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scissors), scissors (plural) seems to have been the norm from Vulgar Latin through Middle French through Middle English. (I’m rusty on Latin plurals, so if anyone can correct me on that, please do so.) [Merriam-Webster](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scissor) says that scissor (singular) dates from the 15th century, while [scissors (plural)](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scissors) is about a century older. My educated guess? No such thing as a scissor until we had a pair of scissors and needed a name for when it was broke in half. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/3 "2009-03-30T12:39:44Z")
OED does have examples of a singular form, although it is now obsolete. > [@](#): > > scissors, n. pl. > > 1. b. in sing. form, = pair of scissors. Obs. > > c1440 Promp. Parv. 78/2 Cysowre, forpex. Ibid. 456/2 Sysowre, schere, forpex. 1611 COTGR., Ciselet, a little sizar, or chisell. Ibid., Forcette, a cizar, a small paire of sheeres. Chisel, by the way, is a cognate, ie both words descend from the same (French) root word. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/4 "2009-03-30T13:49:57Z")
A scissor is, obviously, what one uses when making clothing to cut out one pant. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/5 "2009-03-30T14:38:52Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/6 "2009-03-30T15:05:27Z")
[scission](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scission) > [@](#): > > scission (plural scissions) > > 1. the act of division, separation, cutting or severing > 2. cleavage So, like lessor and lessee, you’ve got your scissors and your scissees. The scissees being “that which is scissed.” Either that, or the whole thing has something to do with tits? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/7 "2009-03-30T15:47:44Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. cleavage Hmmmm… cleavage… Sorry, where were we? Oh, yes, shears. … Hmmm cleavage… Sorry, carry on. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/8 "2009-03-31T00:17:00Z")
Yeah, _chisel_ is probably the root. Scissors is cited the earliest in English in Chaucer’s _House of Fame_, 1380 as > [@](#): > > And moo berdys in two oures Withoute Rasour or Sisoures Y-made then greyndes be of sondes . It was borrowed from _Old French_ _cisoiries_, which occurred just before Chaucer’s time, which was borrowed from _Vulgar Latin_ _cisoria_, which wasn’t really vulgar but was the language the people spoke in the 6-10th century or so, having ditched the more formal Latin of the earlier period closer to the 1-4 centuries. These were all borrowed from the original Latin compounds such as _excisus_, which was a past participle of _excidere_, meaning to cut out. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/9 "2009-03-31T00:50:17Z")
It might (or might not) be worth pointing out that in French, ciseau is a chisel, while ciseaux are scissors (or more than one chisel). ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/10 "2009-03-31T00:58:31Z")
Could the root be incise? If you take a pair of scissors apart, I would think that each part would be a scissor. A scissor is something which scisses. You sciss with a scissor. I’m getting a headache. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/11 "2009-03-31T03:53:10Z")
I have never scissed, not have I scissorsed, but I have scissored. ---
**Author:** ![Pseudocode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/59ef9b/32.png) [@Pseudocode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pseudocode)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/12 "2009-03-31T04:29:59Z")
You scissor? Well, I rock. ---
**Author:** ![abby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@abby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/13 "2009-03-31T06:08:51Z")
hey and also, scissor is used in the context of “cutting”. In my line of work, we use it in a totally different context, where a direction might be, “get them to scissor” (aka, trib). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/14 "2009-03-31T11:39:39Z")
Of course, scissoring is now used to describe the motion of other mechanical contraptions, such as levers connected by an axis, which is what scissors really are. A scissor lift, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-scissor/491291/15 "2009-03-31T13:01:57Z")
How much cleavage would one need to scissor?