splice

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle Dutch splissen (“to splice”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} originally a sailors' word.^[6][8] The Dutch verb is now splitsen.^[6][9][10] Barnhart takes the verb as a back-formation from the earlier verbal noun splisyng (1524–25), borrowed from splissinge.^[11] The OED calls the Middle Dutch verb of doubtful origin but perhaps related to split,^[2] and Klein and Skeat relate it to spliten (“to split”),^[9][12] Skeat explaining it from splitting the rope-ends before interweaving them.^[12] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Germanic *spli- and the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)plei- (“to split, splice”).^[6] Related forms include German splissen and spleissen, West Frisian splisse and Swedish splissa;^[2][8] the Shorter Oxford notes that the English vowel agrees with German spleissen.^[5] The Dutch word also passed into French as épisser.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To join ropes or cables by untwisting and interweaving the strands of their ends: 1524–25, in the records of a London church.^[2][11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the verb to about 1525,^[7] and Dictionary.com to 1515–25.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the rope the verb spread in 1626 to joining timbers by overlapping their ends, in Captain John Smith's writings,^[2][11][6] and the noun, a joint of two ropes, followed in 1627 in Smith's Sea Grammar.^[2][11][6] Johnson (1755) still defined it only of joining the two ends of a rope without a knot.^[13] Figurative uses for uniting or mending things date from 1803.^[2] The word was applied to motion-picture film from 1912,^[2][11][6] with the noun for a joint in film from 1923,^[2][6] and to genetic material such as DNA from 1975.^[11][6] As slang for marrying, usually in the passive to be spliced, it is found from 1751, in Smollett's Peregrine Pickle,^{[2][11][14][8]} and the noun meant a marriage or wedding from 1830.^[2][6] In cricket the splice is the joint between the handle and the blade of the bat (1906).^[2] In Cheshire dialect splice meant to beat, or to set to work with energy.^[15]

Timeline

• 1524 – to join ropes by interweaving the strands of their ends.^[2][11]
• 1626 – to join timbers by overlapping their ends.^[2][11]
• 1627 – noun, a joint of two ropes.^[2][11]
• 1751 – slang, to marry.^[2][14]
• 1803 – figuratively, to unite or combine.^[2]
• 1830 – noun, slang, a marriage or wedding.^[2][6]
• 1906 – noun, in cricket, the joint of the bat's handle and blade.^[2]
• 1912 – to join lengths of film.^[2][11][6]
• 1975 – to join or insert genetic material.^[11][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To join two ropes, or two parts of one rope, by interweaving the strands of their ends: The bosun spliced the two mooring lines.^[16][7][2]
2. To join two pieces of timber or other material by overlapping their ends and fastening them together.^[16][7][2]
3. To join the ends of film, magnetic tape or wire with adhesive or solder.^[16][2]
4. (genetics) To join or insert a gene or a fragment of DNA.^[2][11]
5. (informal) To marry; usually in the passive, to get spliced.^[16][2][14]

Noun

1. A joint made by splicing two ropes, timbers, films or tapes.^[7][2]
2. (cricket) The wedge-shaped end of the handle of a bat, where it joins the blade.^[2]
3. (slang) A marriage or wedding.^[2][14]

Word family

• splicer
• spliceable
• resplice
• comma splice
• eye splice

Related words

• split
• splint
• splinter

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ 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)
16. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins