spick-and-span

English

Alternative forms

• spic and span
• spick and span

Etymology

Originally from “new as new woodchips”

From spick-and-span-new (literally “new as a recently made spike and chip of wood”) (1570s), from spick (“nail”) (variant of spike) + Middle English span-new (“very new”) (from circa 1300 until 1800s), from Old Norse span-nyr, from spann (“chip”) (cognate to Old English spón, Modern English spoon, due to old spoons being made of wood) + nyr (“new”) (cognate to Old English nīwe, Modern English new). Imitation of Dutch spiksplinter nieuw (literally “spike-splinter new”) , for a freshly built ship. Observe that fresh woodchips are firm and light (if from light wood), but decay and darken rapidly, hence the origin of the term.

Adjective

spick-and-span (comparative more spick-and-span, superlative most spick-and-span)

1. (idiomatic) Clean, spotless; original sense “like new”.

   I mopped up the kitchen floor so it was spick-and-span.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:clean

Quotations

			1665
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, Act 3 Scene 5 Lines 42-44:

  NIGHTINGALE (showing one of his ballads) Sir this is a spell against 'em, spick and span new, and 'tis made, as 'twere, in mine own person, and I sing it in mine own defense.

• 1643 John Taylor, A preter-pluperfect, spick and span new nocturnall, or Mercuries weekly night-newes, Wherein the publique Faith is published, and the Banquet of Oxford Mice described (title)
• 1665, Samuel Pepys, diary, 15 November 1665:

  My Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes.

See also

• spick

Translations

clean, spotless

• Arabic: جديد (ar)
• Dutch: spik en span (nl)

• Finnish: putipuhdas (fi)
• German: blitzblank (de)

References

• article on the origins of the expression spick and span at World Wide Words