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spade

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Etymology and origin of the English word spade

Pronunciation

spade1 digging tool

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
800 before 800, Corpus Glossary
Inherited from
Old English spadu via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *spadô

Etymology

The digging tool is inherited from Middle English spade,[2] inherited from Old English spadu, also spædu and spada,[3][4][2] from Proto-Germanic *spadô,[5][6] a word of the Low German area.[7] It is cognate with Old Frisian spada, Old Saxon spado, Middle Dutch spade, Dutch spade and German Spaten;[3][5][8] the OED thinks the German word, unrecorded in Old and Middle High German, perhaps came from Low German, which also gave the Scandinavian forms such as Danish spade and Icelandic spaði.[3] It is closely related to Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē, “wooden blade, paddle, sword”),[3][9][7] the source of spade2.[10] Kroonen takes the word as a formation shared by Germanic and Greek, perhaps a compound of the roots Proto-Indo-European *speh₂-, seen in Ancient Greek σπάω (spáō, “to draw (a sword)”), and Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”);[5] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster connect it with spoon.[6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tool for digging: in the Corpus Glossary,[3] before 800 according to Barnhart, who finds the Middle English word probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.[8] In the Old English glosses it renders Latin fossorium and vanga.[4]

Semantic evolution

The phrase to call a spade a spade, to speak plainly, is recorded from 1542, in Nicholas Udall's translation of Erasmus.[3][6] It translates a Greek proverb about calling a bowl a bowl: Erasmus took the Greek word for a trough or bowl as a derivative of the verb "to dig", and rendered it with Latin for a spade.[6][12] From the 17th century spade was also a measure, the depth of a spade's blade (1674),[3] and in the 19th century the name of several spade-like tools: a whaler's knife for cutting blubber (1820), a seal-engraver's tool (1850) and the spade on a gun carriage that checks its recoil (1862).[3][13] The verb, to dig with a spade, is recorded from 1647.[3][11] In northern English dialect the noun was also pronounced speead or spiad.[14]

Timeline

  • before 800 – Old English spadu, a digging tool.[8][3]
  • before 1200 – Middle English spade, in the Ancrene Riwle.[8]
  • 1542 – to call a spade a spade.[3][6]
  • 1647 – verb, to dig with a spade.[3][11]
  • 1674 – the depth of a spade's blade.[3]
  • 1820 – a whaler's flensing knife.[3]
  • 1862 – a spade-like part checking a gun carriage's recoil.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tool for digging, with a flat, usually oblong metal blade on a long handle, pushed into the ground with the foot: He turned over the vegetable bed with a spade.[13][11][3]
  2. An object or part shaped like a spade.[13]
  3. A heavy projection on the trail of a gun carriage that digs into the ground to reduce recoil.[13][3]
  4. A cutting tool for stripping blubber from a whale.[13][3]
  5. The depth of a spade's blade, as a measure of digging.[11][3]
  6. call a spade a spade: to speak plainly and bluntly.[3][6]

Verb

  1. To dig, turn over or remove with a spade.[11][3]

Word family

  • spader
  • spadeful
  • spadework
  • spadefoot
  • spadefish
  • respade

spade2 playing-card suit

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1598 Florio, A Worlde of Wordes
Borrowed from
Italian spade
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek σπάθη
Etymology tree of spade2
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek σπάθη
Latin spatha
Italian spada
English spade
The journey of spade2
From the same root · spade2
Latin spatula ← spatha

Etymology

The card suit is probably borrowed from Italian spade, the plural of spada (“sword”), used as a mark on playing cards,[3][8][6][7] or else from Spanish espada (“sword”).[11][12] The Italian word is from Latin spatha (“broad, flat weapon or tool”), from Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē, “broad blade”).[6][8][15] The Greek word is related to spade1, so the two English words are ultimately related.[10][3] Weekley called it a mistranslation of the Spanish word, since the original sign was a sword.[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The black spade-shaped mark of one of the four suits of playing cards, and in the plural that suit: 1598, in John Florio's Italian–English dictionary A Worlde of Wordes.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

On cards descended from the French pattern the mark looks like a pointed spade, so the suit's name was naturally linked with the digging tool.[3] A single card of the suit is a spade from 1745, in Hoyle.[3] The phrase in spades, in abundance, appears in 1929 in Damon Runyon, probably from bridge, in which spades are the highest suit.[3][6] From 1910 spade was American slang for a black person, from the colour of the card symbol; the OED labels it derogatory and offensive.[3][6][16]

Timeline

  • 1598 – the spade mark on playing cards, and the suit.[3][8]
  • 1745 – a card of the spade suit.[3]
  • 1910 – slang, a black person (offensive).[3][16]
  • 1929 – in spades, in abundance.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A black figure shaped like an upturned heart with a short stem, marking one of the four suits of playing cards.[11][3]
  2. A card of this suit; in the plural, the suit itself: She led with the king of spades.[11][3]
  3. in spades: in large amounts; to a great degree.[3][6]
  4. (slang, offensive) A black person.[3][16]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  12. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com

Related etymologies

  • zero · also from Italian
  • novel · also from Italian
  • solo · also from Italian
  • manage · also from Italian
  • relief · also from Italian
  • pizza · also from Italian
  • studio · also from Italian
  • medal · also from Italian
Cite this entry

“Spade.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/spade. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·