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spank

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Etymology and origin of the English word spank

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈspeɪ̯ŋk/, /ˈspɛ̃ŋk/[1]

spank1 slap

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Onomatopoeia
First attested
1727 Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary

Etymology

The verb meaning to slap is probably imitative of the sound of a slap.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The American Heritage Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of English call it perhaps imitative.[9][10] Weekley compared Portuguese espancar (“to strike”).[11] The noun comes from the verb.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To slap or smack someone, especially a child, with the open hand: 1727, in Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary.[2][6][5] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to about 1712.[12]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a blow with the open hand, appears in Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) among slang words, but was later standard English.[2][6][13] From 1833 it was also the sharp sound of such a blow.[2] The verb was extended to cracking a whip (1835), to bringing something down with a slap (1880), and to dropping with a smack (1800) or a boat slapping the water (1891).[2] In New Zealand it was a colloquial word for milking a cow (1897).[2] In underworld cant of the early 19th century spanking was robbing a shop by breaking its window and grabbing what was within reach.[13] The verbal noun spanking, a beating with the open hand as a punishment, is recorded from 1854, in a Northamptonshire glossary,[2][5] and the verb is also used figuratively for criticizing or defeating someone heavily.[3]

Timeline

  • 1727 – to slap with the open hand.[2][6][5] Merriam-Webster dates it to about 1712.[12]
  • 1785 – noun, a slap with the open hand.[2][6][13]
  • 1800 – intransitive, to drop or fall with a smack.[2]
  • 1812 – in thieves' cant, to rob a shop by breaking its window.[13]
  • 1833 – noun, the sound of a slap.[2]
  • 1835 – to crack a whip.[2]
  • 1854 – spanking, a punishment with the open hand.[2][5]
  • 1897 – in New Zealand, to milk a cow.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To slap someone with the open hand or a flat object, especially on the buttocks as a punishment: Few parents spank their children now.[4][12][2][3]
  2. To criticize or defeat someone heavily.[3]
  3. To bring down or propel something with a slap.[12][2]
  4. (New Zealand, colloquial) To milk a cow.[2]

Noun

  1. A slap with the open hand or a flat object.[4][12][2]
  2. The sound of such a blow.[12][2]

Word family

spank2 move briskly

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1762 Smollett, Sir Launcelot Greaves

Etymology

The verb meaning to move briskly is probably a back-formation from the adjective spanking, "moving at a lively pace".[2][3][12][6][8][14] Hoad also considers spanker, a fast horse.[7] The adjective is of doubtful origin: the OED compares Danish spanke (“to strut”),[2][6] and Skeat compared Low German spakkern (“to run and spring about quickly”).[15] Partridge thought the adjective itself came from spank1.[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

To move smartly and briskly, especially on horseback: 1762, in Smollett's Sir Launcelot Greaves (spank it away).[13] The OED's first record is from 1807–10, in Tannahill's poems, of animals,[2] and Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1788.[12]

Semantic evolution

The adjective spanking meant "very big or fine" from before 1666 and "moving at a lively pace" from 1738 or 1740, especially of horses.[6][2] The verb was used especially of horses and of those riding or driving them (1811), and of ships sailing quickly (1835); from 1825 it was also transitive, to drive horses at a brisk pace.[2][3] In 19th-century dialect it was widespread from Scotland to Cornwall, often with along, away or off;[17] the noun, a quick bound, is chiefly Scottish.[3][2]

Timeline

  • 1762 – to move briskly, spank it away.[13]
  • 1801 – noun, brisk movement.[2]
  • 1807 – to move with speed and vigour, of animals.[2]
  • 1811 – of horses and their riders or drivers.[2][13]
  • 1825 – transitive, to drive horses briskly.[2]
  • 1835 – of ships, to sail quickly.[2]
  • 1882 – noun, a quick bound or leap.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To move quickly and in a lively way, especially of a horse at a brisk trot; often with along: The trap spanked along the lane.[12][3][2]
  2. Of a boat, to sail briskly.[12][2]
  3. (rare) To drive a horse at a brisk pace.[3][2]

Noun

  1. (chiefly Scottish) A light jump or bound.[3][2]

Word family

  • spanker

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  15. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  16. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  17. ^ 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)

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Spank.” Etymologically, 2 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/spank. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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