scavenger

The word 'scavenger' has a fascinating journey from municipal finance to natural history. It derives from the Anglo-Norman 'scawager', an official who inspected goods and collected a toll called 'scavage'. By the 16th century, the role of London's 'scavengers' expanded to include the cleaning of streets, collecting refuse. This sense of 'cleaning up waste' was then metaphorically applied in natural history to describe animals that 'clean up' dead carcasses, solidifying the modern meaning by the late 17th century. The agent suffix '-er' consistently denotes the performer of this cleaning or collecting action.

Structure: scaveng (to clean) + er (agent suffix) 'scaveng' originates from the Middle English 'scawage' (a toll on goods sold by non-citizens, later a street cleaning tax), itself from the Anglo-Norman 'scawager' (to inspect). 'er' is an Old English agent suffix denoting 'one who does something'.