Plural of scratch; marks made by scraping something sharply, or the act of rubbing your skin with fingernails.
From Middle English 'scratten,' possibly combining 'scrat' (old word for scratch) with Old Norse or German origins. The word's onomatopoeia quality keeps changing slightly with time.
Interestingly, scratches on a surface and scratches on your skin are treated completely differently by your body—one just marks you, but the other triggers your immune system and can scar. Same word, wildly different consequences depending on what you're scratching.
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