spatula

English

A plastic kitchen spatula

Etymology

From Latin spatula (“a flat piece”), the diminutive form of spatha (“broad or flat tool”) + -ula ("-ule"). Compare spatha and spathe.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈspætʃʊlə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

spatula (plural spatulas or spatulae or spatulæ)

1. A kitchen utensil consisting of a flat surface attached to a long handle, used for turning, lifting, or stirring food.
2. (dated) A palette knife.
3. (chemistry) A thin hand tool, often made of nickel, for handling chemicals or other materials, when weighing, etc.

Synonyms

• (kitchen utensil): turner

Derived terms

• spatular
• spatulous

Related terms

• spatulate

Translations

kitchen utensil

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鍋鏟 (cmn), 锅铲 (cmn) (guōchǎn)

• Czech: špátle (cs) f
• Danish: palet (da) c, paletkniv (da) c
• Dutch: spatel (nl) c
• Finnish: lasta (fi)
• French: spatule (fr) f
• German: Pfannenwender (de) m

• Greek: σπάτουλα (el) (spátoula) f
• Icelandic: spaði (is) m
• Italian: spatola (it) f
• Japanese: 箆 (ja), へら (ja) (hera), スパーテル (ja) (supāteru)
• Malay: sudip (ms)
• Maori: koko (mi)
• Polish: łopatka f, szpachelka f
• Russian: лопаточка (ru) (lopátočka) f, лопатка (ru) (lopátka) f
• Spanish: espátula (es) f
• Swedish: stekspade (sv) c

palette knife

• Danish: palet (da) c, paletkniv (da) c
• Dutch: spatel (nl) c, steker (nl) m

• Finnish: palettiveitsi
• German: Spachtelmesser (de) n

thin hand tool for handling chemicals or other materials

• Danish: spatel (da) c
• Dutch: spatel (nl) c
• Finnish: spaatteli (fi)

• German: Spatel (de) m
• Russian: шпатель (ru) (špátel') m
• Swedish: spatel (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: spatule f (3)
• Italian: spatola f (1,2,3)

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Latin

Alternative forms

• spathula

Etymology

Diminutive from spatha (“broad, flat tool”) +‎ -ula.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA: /ˈspa.tu.la/

Noun

spatula (genitive spatulae); f, first declension

1. a broad, flat piece

   spatula porcina — "leg of pork"

2. a little palm frond

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	spatula	spatulae
genitive	spatulae	spatulārum
dative	spatulae	spatulīs
accusative	spatulam	spatulās
ablative	spatulā	spatulīs
vocative	spatula	spatulae

Derived terms

• spatulātus, spathulātus

Related terms

• spatha

Descendants

Albanian: shpatull Catalan: espatlla English: spatula French: épaule Greek: σπάτουλα Italian: spalla, spatola

Occitan: espatla Portuguese: espalda Romanian: spatulă Romansch: spatla Sicilian: spadda Spanish: espalda

References

• spatula in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879