spear

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English spear, spere, from Old English spere, from Proto-Germanic *speri (compare West Frisian spear, Dutch speer, 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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (Canada, UK, US) IPA: /ˈspɪɹ/
• (UK) IPA: /spɪə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

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. (now chiefly historical) A soldier armed with such a weapon; a spearman.
   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 187:

     Two of the four spears came directly from Lady Margaret's staff. One was her great-nephew Maurice St John […].

3. A sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish.
4. (ice hockey) an illegal maneuver using the end of a hockey stick to strike into another hockey player.
5. (wrestling) a running tackle on an opponent performed in professional wrestling.
6. A long, thin strip from a vegetable.

   asparagus and broccoli spears

Derived terms

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

Translations

long stick with a sharp tip

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Afrikaans: spies (af)
• Armenian: նիզակ (hy) (nizak)
• Asturian: llanza (ast) f
• Avar: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: llança (ca) f
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 矛 (cmn) (máo)

• Czech: kopí (cs) n
• Danish: spyd (da) n
• Dutch: speer (nl) f, spies (nl) f, lans (nl) f, geer (nl) m
• Estonian: oda (et)
• Faroese: spjót (fo) n
• Finnish: keihäs (fi)
• French: lance (fr)

  Middle French: dart m

  Old French: dart m

• Galician: lanza (gl) f
• Georgian: შუბი (ka) (šubi)
• German: Speer (de) m
• Greek: δόρυ (el) (dóri) n, λόγχη (el) (lónkhi) f
• Hawaiian: ʻō
• Hebrew: חנית (he) (chanít) f, חניתות (he) (chanitót) pl
• Hungarian: dárda (hu), lándzsa (hu)
• Icelandic: spjót (is) n
• Indonesian: tombak (id), lembing (id)
• Italian: lancia (it), asta (it), alabarda (it), picca (it) f
• Japanese: 槍 (ja) (yari), 鑓 (ja) (yari)

• Kriol: barragarl, burdagul
• Latgalian: škāps m, dzyds m
• Latin: hasta (la)
• Latvian: šķēps (lv) m
• Lithuanian: ietis (lt) m
• Macedonian: копје (mk) (kópje) n
• Malay: lembing (ms)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Navajo: tsiiʼdétáán
• Ngarrindjeri: kykie
• Norwegian: spyd (no) n, spjut (no) n
• Occitan: lança (oc) f
• Ossetian: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: نیزه (fa) (neyze)
• 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
• Scottish Gaelic: sleagh (gd) f, brod (gd) m, gath (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian: копље (sh) (koplje) n
• Spanish: lanza (es) f
• Swahili: mkuki (sw)
• Swedish: spjut (sv) n
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: mızrak (tr), kargı (tr)
• Tuvan: узун чыда (uzun čyda), копьё (kop'jo)
• Ukrainian: спис (uk) (spys) m
• West Frisian: spear (fy)
• ǃXóõ: ǃōo a̰a

sharp tool used by fishermen to retrieve fish

• French: harpon (fr) m
• 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
• Serbo-Croatian: остве (sh) (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 (ar) (rumħ) m
• Catalan: llança (ca) f, (for throwing) javelina f, dard (ca) m
• Mandarin: 矛 (cmn) (máo), 槍 (cmn), 枪 (cmn) (qiāng)
• Dutch: speer (nl)
• French: (1) lance (fr) f
• German: (1, 2) Speer (de) m, (2) Fischspeer (de)
• Guugu Yimidhirr: galga, (avoidance language) gandul
• Hebrew: חנית (he) f, כִּ‏ידוֹ‏‏ן (he) (kidon) m
• Italian: lancia (it) f, germoglio (it) m
• Korean: 창 (ko) (chang)

• Latin: hasta (la) f
• Norwegian: spyd (no) n
• Old English: spere (ang) n
• Portuguese: lança (pt) f
• Slovak: (1) kopija (sk) f, (1) oštep (sk) m, (2) harpúna (sk) f
• Spanish: lanza (es) f
• Telugu: శూలం (te) (SoolaM), బల్లెం (te) (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.
2. (intransitive) To shoot into a long stem, as some plants do.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

Translations

strike with any long narrow object

• Finnish: keihästää (fi)

• Greek: λογχίζω (el) (lonchízo)

Anagrams

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

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West Frisian

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *speri. Compare English spear, Dutch speer, German Speer.

Noun

spear c (plural spearen, diminutive spearje, diminutive plural spearjes)

1. spear