means A cutting tool of two blades pivoted together, larger and heavier than scissors, used for clipping things like fabric, sheep's wool, or hedges.

from From Old English 'sceara,' the plural of 'scear' — the same root that gives us 'shear,' meaning to cut or clip. It traces back to a Proto-Germanic root '*sker-' meaning 'to cut,' a deep ancestor that also seeds words like 'share,' 'shard,' and 'shore' (a coastline being, in a sense, where the land is cut from the sea). The plural form stuck because, like trousers and pliers, the thing is two-of-a-kind by nature — you never wield half a pair.