spoon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spuːn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spon, inherited from Old English spōn (“chip, shaving, splinter of wood”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz,^[2][3] cognate with Middle Dutch spaen, Old High German spān (modern Span (“shaving”)) and Old Norse spánn, spónn (“chip, tile, spoon”).^[2][4][3] It was formerly traced to a PIE root meaning a long flat piece of wood, compared with Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”).^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thin piece of wood, a chip or splinter: about 725 in the OED, before 800 in Barnhart,^[6][2] a sense now obsolete.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The eating utensil sense is from the Middle Ages, about 1340 in the OED and about 1350 in Barnhart (implied in spoonful about 1300),^[6][2] perhaps because spoons were usually carved out of wood or horn.^[7] It is specific to English and Scandinavian, and probably taken from Old Norse, where the word also meant spoon.^[3][2][4][8] In Middle English it also meant a roofing shingle.^[3][6] The proverb about needing a long spoon to sup with the Devil is in Chaucer (about 1386),^[6][3] and born with a silver spoon in one's mouth is from at least 1719.^[3] The verb, to take up with a spoon, is from 1715;^[2][3] to court or flirt sentimentally is by 1831, from spoony, foolish, sentimental,^[3][2][4] and to lie close together like stacked spoons by 1870.^[3] The wooden spoon was first given to the candidate who came last in the Cambridge mathematics examination.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 725 – spōn, a chip of wood.^[6]
• c. 1340 – a spoon for eating.^[6]
• c. 1386 – a long spoon to sup with the Devil.^[6]
• 1715 – to spoon (verb).^[2][3]
• 1831 – to spoon, flirt.^[3][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A utensil with a small shallow bowl on a handle, used for eating, stirring and serving food.
2. A shiny curved metal fishing lure.
3. An oar with a curved blade; a golf club, the three wood.

Verb

1. To lift or carry with a spoon.
2. (informal, dated) To kiss and cuddle.
3. To lie close together, front to back.

Word family

• spoonable
• spoonless
• spoonlike
• spoondrift
• spoonworm
• spoonbill
• spoon-feed

Related words

• spoonful
• spoony
• spick and span

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press