spalt

See also: Spalt

English

Etymology

Compare German Spalt (“stein”), from spalten (“to split”). (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɔːlt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːlt

Noun

spalt (uncountable)

1. Spelter.

Adjective

spalt (comparative more spalt, superlative most spalt)

1. (of wood) Brittle.

   Note: (US) Spalted wood is that which has been cut from a naturally cured, dead, or dying hardwood tree whose wood is normally light in color (such as pecan), and which exhibits patterns of dark stain (crazed) lines and splotches caused by microorganisms and/or fungus. Although slightly more brittle and porous than normal wood from the same species of tree, spalted wood nevertheless can be used to make decorative items and small pieces of furniture.

   • 1772, William Ellis, Husbandry, Abridged:

     a brittle, spalt wood

2. Heedless; clumsy; pert; saucy.

Verb

spalt (third-person singular simple present spalts, present participle spalting, simple past and past participle spalted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To break off pieces, or have them broken off, especially with an axe etc; to splinter.

   Synonym: spall

Anagrams

• -plast, plats, slapt, splat

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃpalt/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

spalt

1. singular imperative of spalten

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

spalt

1. imperative of spalte

Old High German

Etymology

Related to Lombardic spalt (“crack, fissure”); see modern German spalten (“to cleave”).

Noun

spalt m

1. crack, fissure

Descendants

• German: Spalt, Spalte
• → Italian: spalto

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “spill”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Swedish

Etymology

Used in Swedish since 1657, same as Danish spalte, from German Spalte, based on the verb spalten (“to split”), related to Swedish spjäll, spilla, spillra

Noun

spalt c

1. a (long and narrow) gap
2. a column (of text)
3. a (recurring) section with certain contents in a paper or magazine; a column

Declension

Declension of spalt
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	spalt	spalten	spalter	spalterna
Genitive	spalts	spaltens	spalters	spalternas

Synonyms

• glugg
• kolumn

Derived terms

• gomspalt (“cleft palate”)

Related terms

• spalta
• spaltbredd
• spaltmeter
• spaltutrymme

References

• spalt in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• spalt in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• spalt in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Anagrams

• plast, plats