"S" Word Origins

sphacelus

Origin

From Ancient Greek σφάκελος (sphákelos).

sphere

Ancient Greek

From Old French sphere, from Late Latin sphēra, from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα (sphaîra, "ball, globe").

spherical

Latin

From English "spheric" (from Latin sphaericus, from Greek σφαιρικός) plus "-al."

sphincter

Ancient Greek

A learned borrowing from Late Latin sphinctēr, from Ancient Greek σφιγκτήρ (sphinktḗr, "band, contractile muscle") — possibly related to "sphinx," meaning roughly "the strangler."

sphingian

Origin

From the stem of Latin Sphinx + -ian.

sphingine

Origin

From (the stem of) Latin sphinx + -ine.

sphinx

Ancient Greek

From Ancient Greek Sphinx, possibly linked to the verb "to squeeze" or "strangle" (the same root behind sphincter) — though some trace it instead to an Egyptian phrase meaning "living image."

spice

Latin

From Old French espice, going back to Latin speciēs, originally meaning "kind" or "sort" — the same root that gives us "species."

spiceberry

Origin

From spice + berry.

spicer

Old French

From Old French espicier, "dealer in spices," built from spice plus the agent suffix "-er."

spick and span

English

From the older phrase spick and span new, itself an elaboration of span-new meaning brand new, from Old Norse spán-nýr, literally chip-new; spick is thought to be a nail or spike, giving the sense of something as fresh as a newly cut chip and a newly made nail.

spicy

Origin · 1500

Formed from spice plus the adjective-forming suffix "-y," first recorded in the 1500s.

spider

Old English

From Old English spīþra, ultimately from the Germanic root behind "spin" — a spider is literally "the spinning one."

spiderman

Origin

From spider plus man, popularized by the fictional superhero Spider-Man, who scales walls like a spider.

Spidey

Origin

A casual, affectionate shortening of "spider," with the "-y" ending used the way it is in other pet nicknames.

spiel

German

Borrowed from German Spiel, meaning "game" or "performance."

Spielberg

German

Borrowed from German Spielberg.

spieler

Origin

From German Spieler (“player, gambler”) or from spiel.

spiff

Origin

Unknown. See etymology discussion at spiffy.

spiffy

Origin · 1850

Origin unknown, first recorded in print in the 1850s; related informal words like "spiff" and "spiffing" appeared soon after.

spike

Old Norse

From Old Norse spík, "spike" or "sprig," part of a wider Germanic family of words for pointed sticks and nails.

spiky

Middle English

From spike (“kind of inflorescence in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives with the sense “having the quality of”). Spike is derived from Middle English spik, spike (“ear of grain; clove of garlic; plant having spikes; plant of the genus Valeriana, especially Valeriana officinalis; plant of the genus Lavandula, lavender”), from Latin spīca (“ear, head, or spike of grain; plant spike”) (feminine) (also rarely spīcum (neuter) and spīcus (masculine)), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“long; sharp; thin”).

spile

Origin

From Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spile (“splinter, peg”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spīlaz (“splinter, peg”), from Proto-Indo-European *spey- (“prickle, pointed stick”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spyl, German Speil (“chip, splinter, gore, wedge”), Danish spile, Dutch spijl.

spill

Old English

From Old English spillan, "to destroy or waste" — the modern sense of accidentally pouring something out developed later.

spiller

Origin

From spill plus the agent suffix "-er."

spillover

Origin

From spill + over.

spilt

Origin

Formed from spill plus the old past-tense ending "-t," common in British English alongside "spilled."

spin

Old English

From Old English spinnan, "to spin thread" — the sense of twisting fibers into yarn came first, with "rotate" and "present with bias" developing later.

spin-off

English

From the verb phrase 'spin off', to throw off or separate something from a rotating mass.

spinach

Old French

Traced back through Old French and Arabic to a Persian word for the plant.

spinal

Late Latin

From Late Latin spīnālis, "of the spine," from spīna, "prickle" or "spine."

spindle

Old English

From Old English spinel, related to spin — literally "a thing for spinning."

spine

Origin

From late Middle English spyne, from Old French espine (French épine) or its source, Latin spīna (“a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone”). Doublet of spina.

spinner

Origin

From Middle English spynnere; equivalent to spin + -er.

spinney

Origin

From Middle English spenné, from Middle French espinoye (“thorny thicket”), espinaye, from Latin spīnētum (“thorny thicket”), from Latin spīna (“thorn”).

spinous

Origin

From spine + -ous, or borrowed from Latin spinōsus.

spinster

Middle English

From Middle English spynnestere, originally simply "a woman who spins thread" — the connection to unmarried women grew from the historical association between spinning work and single women.

spiny

Origin

From spine + -y.

spiral

Latin

From Latin spīra, itself from Greek speîra, meaning "coil" or "twist."

spire

Old English

From Old English spīr, meaning a sharp point, tip, or plant stalk.

spirea

Origin

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek σπεῖρα (speîra, “coil”).

Spires

Origin

Patronymic from Spire.

spirit

Latin

From Latin spīritus, "breath" or "spirit," from a root meaning "to blow or breathe" — related to words like inspire and respire.

spiritual

Latin

From Latin spīritus, "spirit," via Old French spirituel.

spiritualist

Origin

From spiritual plus the "-ist" suffix, denoting a believer or practitioner.

spirituality

Late Latin

From Late Latin spīrituālitās, via Middle French spiritualité.

spiritually

Latin

From spiritual plus the adverb-forming suffix -ly; spiritual itself traces back to Latin spiritus, "breath" or "spirit."

spiritus

Latin

Directly from Latin spīritus, "breath, spirit" — the same root that gives English "spirit," "inspire," and "respiration."