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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

spoon.

An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/spuːn/[ˈspʊu̯n]
  1. An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.

  2. An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.

  3. A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.

  4. A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern fairway wood.

    archaic
  5. An oar.

    slang
  6. A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.

  7. A spoon excavator.

    informal
  8. A South African shrub of the genus Spatalla.

  9. A simpleton, a spoony.

    archaic · figuratively · slang
  10. A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.

    US
  11. A metaphoric unit of finite physical and mental energy available for daily activities, especially in the context of living with chronic illness or disability.

    slang
Where this word comes from

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peH- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”). Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen (“chip”), Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), Norwegian Nynorsk spon (“chip, spoon”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”)(though the connection to the Greek is likely impossible by modern reconstructions of PIE). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer, coclear (“spoon”), from Old English cuculer, cuceler, cucler, borrowed from Latin cochlear (“spoon”). The "metaphoric unit of personal energy" sense was coined by writer and disability advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003 (see spoon theory).

verb/spuːn/[ˈspʊu̯n]
  1. To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.

    Sarah spooned some apple sauce onto her plate.
  2. To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.

    dated · intransitive
  3. To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.

    informal · intransitive · transitive
  4. To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons. To have sex in such a position.

    broadly · informal · intransitive · transitive
  5. To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.

  6. To fish with a concave spoon bait.

    intransitive
  7. To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peH- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”). Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen (“chip”), Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), Norwegian Nynorsk spon (“chip, spoon”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”)(though the connection to the Greek is likely impossible by modern reconstructions of PIE). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer, coclear (“spoon”), from Old English cuculer, cuceler, cucler, borrowed from Latin cochlear (“spoon”). The "metaphoric unit of personal energy" sense was coined by writer and disability advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003 (see spoon theory).

verb/spuːn/[ˈspʊu̯n]
  1. Alternative form of spoom.

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. Compare spoom.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.