écorcher

skin

verb eh-kor-SHEH Rare

Also means

scratch

Usage Note

Écorcher literally means to skin an animal or to graze/scratch skin (s'écorcher le genou — to graze one's knee). Figuratively, écorcher un mot means to mispronounce or mangle a word, and écorcher vif (to skin alive) expresses extreme irritation. A learner who stumbles over French sounds might say the language écorche les oreilles of a native speaker.

Examples

"Il s'est écorché le genou en tombant."

Natural Translation

He grazed his knee when he fell.

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