spean

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A teat or nipple of a cow.
verb
  1. Archaic form of spane.
name
  1. A river in Highland council area, Scotland, which flows into the River Lochy.

Pronunciation

/spiːn/

Word forms

spean speans spane spene speen spaine speane speaning speaned

Etymology

From Middle English *spene, *spane, from Old English spane, spanu (“teat”), from Proto-West Germanic *spanu, *spenu, from Proto-Germanic *spenô (“nipple”), from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn (“breast; teat”). Cognate with West Frisian spien (“nipple”), Dutch speen (“nipple”), Danish spene (“teat”), Swedish spene (“teat, nipple, dug”), Icelandic speni (“teat”). Alternatively a borrowing from Dutch speen (“nipple, teat”), from the same Proto-Germanic origin as above.

Derived words

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