'scald' originates from Old Norse, specifically the word 'skalda', meaning 'to scald or to boil'.

'scald' passed into Middle English as forms like 'scalden' and later became modern English 'scald'; the adjective 'scalding' and the adverb 'scaldingly' developed from the present participle.

Initially, it meant 'to boil' or 'to expose to boiling liquid'; over time it came to mean 'to burn with hot liquid' and figuratively 'to sting or rebuke sharply', which is reflected in modern usages.