Etymologically
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spot

Etymology and origin of the English word spot

History Permalink
Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited, Borrowing
First attested
before 1200, Ancrene Riwle
Inherited from
Middle English spotte

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /spɒt/, US /spɑːt/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spotte, spot,[2][3] probably partly a variant of splott (“a spot, blot, patch of land”),[4][2] and partly from or related to Middle Dutch spotte (“stain, speck”).[4][2][5] Related forms are East Frisian spot “speck”, North Frisian spōt “speck, piece of ground” and Old Norse spotti “small piece”;[4][2] some of these Germanic words are probably borrowed from others, and the exact development is unclear.[4] It was used as a surname, Spotte, from 1194.[2] The verb is from the noun.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small mark, blot or stain, and a moral stain: before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,[2][6] about 1200 in Etymonline.[4]

Semantic evolution

A speck or stain left on a surface is from the mid-14th century (1340 in the OED),[4][6] a patch on an animal's fur from about 1300,[4] and an eruption on the skin from the late 14th century.[4] The sense of a particular place is recorded about 1380 but did not come into general use until the late 1600s.[2] On the spot, “at once, without moving”, is by the 1670s,[4] hit the spot by 1857,[4] and put someone on the spot from 1928.[4] A short slot in a broadcast for an advertisement is by 1937, from an act's position on a bill (1923).[4] The verb meant “to stain” from about 1250;[2] “to recognize, detect” was first applied to a criminal or suspect (1718) and was used generally from 1860.[2][4] The adjective, as in spot cash and spot price, is from 1881.[7] Spotless is from about 1380 and spotlight from 1904.[2]

Timeline

  • 1194 – as a surname.[2]
  • before 1200 – a moral stain; a small mark.[2]
  • c. 1250 – verb, to stain.[2]
  • c. 1380 – a particular place.[2]
  • 1670s – on the spot.[4]
  • 1718 – verb, to recognize a criminal.[2]
  • 1860 – verb, to detect, see.[2][4]
  • 1881 – adjective, as in spot cash.[7]
  • 1904 – spotlight.[2]
  • 1928 – put on the spot.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A small mark on a surface differing in color from what surrounds it; a stain or blot.
  2. A pimple or blemish on the skin.
  3. A place of limited extent; a particular location.
  4. A blemish on character; a fault.
  5. A short slot in a broadcast or an entertainment programme.
  6. (chiefly British, informal) A small amount: a spot of lunch.
  7. A spotlight.

Verb

  1. To mark with spots; to stain.
  2. To see, detect or recognize.
  3. To place in a particular location.

Adjective

  1. Paid or delivered at once: spot cash, the spot price.
  2. Made at random: a spot check.

Word family

  • spottable
  • spotlike
  • respot
  • spotless
  • spotlight
  • spotty
  • spotted
  • splotch

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
Cite this entry

“Spot.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/spot. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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