Etymologically
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spill

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 16:35. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /spɪl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spillen, inherited from Old English spillan (“to destroy, kill”), a variant of spildan,[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną,[2][3] cognate with Old Saxon spildian (“to destroy, kill”), Old Norse spilla (“to destroy”) and Middle Dutch spillen (“to waste, squander, spill”).[2][3][4] Hoad calls its origin unknown;[4] it may be from a root meaning to split (compare German spalten).[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To destroy or kill: about 950 in Barnhart, Old English.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The old sense, to kill or destroy, was common until about 1600,[5] and Trench notes that it once meant to waste, squander or destroy in any way, as in Chaucer.[6] To waste is from probably before 1200, to shed blood from before 1325,[2] and to let liquid run out from about 1340, the late Middle English sense that grew from shedding blood.[2][5] Trench explains the narrowing by liquid poured on the ground seeming so utterly lost.[6] The noun, a fall or tumble, as from a horse, is from 1845, and a spilling of liquid from 1848.[3][2] Spillway is from 1889 and spillover from 1940.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 950 – spillan, to destroy.[2]
  • probably before 1200 – to waste.[2]
  • before 1325 – to shed blood.[2]
  • c. 1340 – to spill liquid.[2]
  • 1845 – a fall (noun).[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To cause or allow liquid to run or fall out of a container, especially by accident.
  2. To pour or spread out beyond limits: the crowd spilled into the street.
  3. To shed blood.
  4. (informal) To reveal a secret: spill the beans.

Noun

  1. An act of spilling, or the amount spilled.
  2. A fall, as from a horse.

Word family

  • spiller
  • spillable
  • unspilled
  • nonspill
  • spillage
  • spillback
  • spillover
  • spillproof
  • spillway

Usage notes

A different spill, a splinter, or a thin strip of wood or twisted paper for lighting a fire, is from about 1300, of uncertain origin, probably related to spile.[2][4][7]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press