spear

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Old English spere, from Proto-Germanic *speri (compare Dutch/German speer, Old Norse spjör), from *sparron (compare Middle Dutch sparre 'rafter', Old Norse sparri 'spar, rafter', sperra 'rafter, beam'), from Proto-Indo-European *spar- (compare Latin sparus 'short spear', Albanian ferrë 'thorn, thornbush' ).

Pronunciation

• (Canada, UK) IPA: /ˈspɪɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(r)

Noun

spear (plural spears)

1. A long stick with a sharp tip used as a weapon for throwing or thrusting, or anything used to make a thrusting motion.
2. A sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish.
3. (ice hockey) an illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player
4. (wrestling) a running tackle on an opponent performed in professional wrestling.

Derived terms

• spearbush
• spear gun
• spearhead
• spearmint
• spear thrower
• spear tackle
• spearwood

Translations

long stick with a sharp tip

Armenian: նիզակ (hy) (nizak) Czech: kopí (cs) n. Danish: spyd (da) n. Dutch: speer (nl) m. and f. Estonian: oda (et) Faroese: spjót (fo) n. Finnish: keihäs (fi) French: lance (fr) German: Speer (de) m. Greek: Ancient: λόγχη f. Modern: λόγχη (el) (lónxi) f., δόρυ (el) (ðóri) n. Hungarian: dárda (hu), lándzsa (hu) Icelandic: spjót (is) n. Italian: lancia (it), asta (it), alabarda (it), picca (it) f. Japanese: 槍 (ja) (yari), 鑓 (ja) (yari) Kriol: barragarl, burdagul Latgalian: škāps m.

Latin: hasta (la) Latvian: šķēps (lv) m. Lithuanian: ietis (lt) m. Macedonian: копје (mk) (kópje) n. Ngarrindjeri: kykie Norwegian: spyd (no) n., spjut (no) n. Pitjantjatjara: kuḻaṯa Polish: dzida (pl) f., włócznia (pl) f. Portuguese: lança (pt) f. Romanian: lance (ro), suliță (ro) Russian: копьё (ru) (kop’jó) n., дротик (ru) (drótik) m. Serbian: копље (sr) (koplje) n. Spanish: lanza (es) f. Swahili: mkuki (sw) Swedish: spjut (sv) n. Turkish: mızrak (tr), kargı (tr) !Xóõ: !ōo a̰a Ukrainian: спис (uk) (spys) m.

sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish

Greek: καμάκι (el) (kamáki) n. Hungarian: szigony (hu) Italian: fiocina (it), arpione (it) Japanese: (short type for a small fish) 簎 (ja) (yasu); (large type for a large fish) 銛 (ja) (mori) Macedonian: стрела (mk) (stréla) f.

Polish: harpun (pl) m. Russian: острога (ru) (ostrogá) f. Serbian: остве (sr) (ostve) f. pl. Spanish: arpón (es) m. Swahili: chusa (sw)

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

Arabic: رُمْح (rumħ) m. Catalan: llança f.; (for throwing) javelina f., dard m. Mandarin: 矛 (máo); 槍, 枪 (qiāng) Dutch: speer French: lance f. (1) German: Speer m.(1, 2), Fischspeer (2) Guugu Yimidhirr: galga, gandul (avoidance language) Hebrew: חנית f., כִּ‏ידוֹ‏‏ן (kidon) m. Italian: lancia f., germoglio m. Korean: 창 (chang)

Latin: hasta f. Norwegian: spyd n. Old English: spere n. Portuguese: lança f. Scottish Gaelic: sleagh f., iodhan m., brod m., gath m. Slovak: kopija f. (1), oštep m. (1), harpúna f. (2) Spanish: lanza f. Telugu: శూలం (SoolaM), బల్లెం (balleM)

See also

• assegai, assagai, assagaie, assagay, assegay, azagaia, hassagay, hassaguay, zagaie, zagaye
• atlatl
• bayonet
• harpoon
• javelin
• joust
• lance
• pike
• spit, used to grill food on fire
• woomera

Verb

spear (third-person singular simple present spears, present participle spearing, simple past and past participle speared)

1. To penetrate or strike with, or as if with, any long narrow object. To make a thrusting motion that catches an object on the tip of a long device.

Translations

strike with any long narrow object

Finnish: keihästää (fi)

Greek: λογχίζω (el)

Anagrams

• apres, après, aprés
• asper, as per
• pares
• parse
• pears
• præs.
• rapes
• reaps
• RESPA
• spare

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West Frisian

Noun

spear c.

1. spear