Scrabble
mid 16th century (in the sense ‘make marks at random, scrawl’): from Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben ‘to scrape’. The noun sense ‘struggle to achieve something’ is originally a North American usage dating from the late 18th century.
wiktionary
From Middle Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben(“to scrape”), equivalent to scrab + -le. More at scrape.
etymonline
scrabble (v.)
1530s, "to scrawl, scribble," from Dutch schrabbelen, frequentative of schrabben "to scratch" (ultimately from PIE root *sker- (1) "to cut"). Meaning "to struggle, scramble" first recorded 1630s. Related: Scrabbled; scrabbling.
Scrabble (n.)
board game, 1949, proprietary name (registered U.S.), probably from scribble-scrabble "hasty writing" (1580s), a reduplication of scribble (n.).
