English
Etymology
Calque from Chinese 焦土 (jiāotǔ, “scorched earth; ravages of war”), originally in reference to the strategy adopted by the Chinese government in the Second Sino-Japanese War. First attested in 1937 as an idiom.[1]
Noun
scorched earth (uncountable)
- (military) Land that has been abandoned, in the face of an advancing enemy, after the destruction of all resources on it.
- (military) The strategy of destroying all resources in an area of land in order to deny their use to an advancing enemy.
Derived terms
Translations
Translations
- Albanian: please add this translation if you can
- Arabic: سِيَاسَةُ الأَرْضِ المَحْرُوقَة f (siyāsatu l-ʔarḍi l-maḥrūqa)
- Armenian: please add this translation if you can
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 焦土 (zh) (jiāotǔ)
- Danish: brændte jords taktik c
- Dutch: verschroeide aarde
- Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
- Estonian: please add this translation if you can
- Finnish: poltettu maa
- French: terre brûlée (fr) f
- Georgian: გადამწვარი მიწა (gadamc̣vari mic̣a)
- German: verbrannte Erde (de) f
- Hungarian: felperzselt föld
- Italian: terra bruciata f
- Japanese: 焦土 (ja) (shōdo)
- Latvian: please add this translation if you can
- Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
- Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
- Polish: spalona ziemia f
- Romanian: please add this translation if you can
- Russian: вы́жженная земля́ (ru) f (výžžennaja zemljá)
- Slovak: please add this translation if you can
- Spanish tierra quemada f
- Spanish: tierra chamuscada f, tierra achicharrada f
- Swedish: bränd jord c, brända jordens taktik c
- Turkish: please add this translation if you can
- Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
- Vietnamese: tiêu thổ (vi)
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Adjective
scorched earth (comparative more scorched earth, superlative most scorched earth)
- Alternative spelling of scorched-earth.
References