spatula

See also: Spatula and spatulă

English

A plastic kitchen spatula for turning and lifting

Spatula for scraping

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin spatula (“a flat piece”), the diminutive form of spatha (“broad or flat tool”), from Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē, “a broad wood or metal blade”). Compare spatha and spathe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspætjʊlə/, /ˈspætʃʊlə/, /ˈspætʃələ/

• 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.

   Synonyms: fish slice, fish trowel, turner, pancake turner, flipper

2. (Canada, US) A kitchen utensil consisting of a flexible surface attached to a long handle, used for scraping the sides of bowls.

   Synonyms: scraper, dough scraper

3. (dated) A palette knife.
4. (chemistry) A thin hand tool, often made of nickel, for handling chemicals or other materials, when weighing, etc.
5. A croupier's tool for turning up cards in a casino.
   • 1963, Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

     The croupier delicately faced her other two cards with the tip of his spatula. A four! She had lost!

6. (entomology) A sclerotized, T-shaped plate in the prothorax of larvae of flies belonging to family Cecidomyiidae, the gall midges.
   • 2015 November 2, Donald B. Thomas; John A. Goolsby, “Morphology of the Preimaginal Stages of Lasioptera donacis Coutin (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), a Candidate Biocontrol Agent for Giant Arundo Cane”, in Psyche, DOI:10.1155/2015/262678:

     The third instars are similar to other members of the genus except for a three-pronged spatula (typically two-pronged) and five lateral papillae (typically four) and with a nonbristled first instar.

Derived terms

• spatular
• spatulate
• spatulation
• spatuloid
• spatulous
• spoonula

 

Translations

kitchen utensil for turning and lifting

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: مِلْعَقَةُ الصَيْدَلِيِّ‎ (milʿaqatu ṣ-ṣaydaliyyi)

  Gulf Arabic: ملاس‎ (millās)

• Armenian: բահիկ (bahik)
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Brunei Malay: sinduk
• Bulgarian: шпатула (špatula)
• Catalan: espàtula (ca) f, giradora (ca) f, girapeix (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鑊鏟, 镬铲 (wok⁶ caan²)

  Mandarin: 鍋鏟, 锅铲 (guōchǎn)

• Czech: špátle f
• Danish: palet c, paletkniv c
• Dutch: spatel (nl) c
• Esperanto: truleto
• Finnish: lasta (fi)
• French: spatule (fr) f
• Galician: espátula f
• German: Pfannenwender (de) m
• Greek: σπάτουλα (el) f (spátoula)
• Icelandic: spaði (is) m
• Irish: spadal m
• Italian: spatola (it) f, paletta (it) f

• Japanese: 箆 (ja) (へら, hera), スパーテル (supāteru), フライ返し (フライがえし, furaigaeshi) (slotted spatula)
• Khmer: វែកកូរ (vɛɛk kou)
• Korean: 뒤집개 (ko) (dwijipgae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: hevstîv (ku), spatûla (ku)

• Latin: spatula f, rutabulum n
• Malay: sudip
• Maori: koko
• Mongolian: хусуур (mn) (khusuur)
• Navajo: bee náʼayooʼniłí
• Norwegian: stekespade
• Persian: کفگیر‎ (fa) (kafgir)
• Plautdietsch: Scheppelkje n
• Polish: łopatka (pl) f, szpachelka f
• Portuguese: espátula (pt) f
• Russian: лопа́точка (ru) f (lopátočka), лопа́тка (ru) f (lopátka)
• Spanish: espátula (es) f
• Swedish: stekspade c
• Tagalog: espatula
• Tajik: кафгир (tg) (kafgir)
• Thai: ตะหลิว (th) (dtà-lǐu)
• Turkish: spatula (tr)
• Ukrainian: шпа́тель m (špátelʹ)
• Vietnamese: dao bay, que phết

kitchen utensil for scraping bowls

• Czech: stěrka f
• Dutch: pottenlikker m
• French: maryse (fr) f
• Galician: rapa (gl) f
• German: Teigspatel m, Teigschaber (de) m

• Persian: لیسک‎ (fa) (lisak)
• Swedish: slickepott (sv)

palette knife

• Danish: palet c, paletkniv c
• Dutch: spatel (nl) c, steker (nl) m
• Finnish: palettiveitsi (fi)

• German: Spachtelmesser n
• Italian: mestichino (it) m, paletta (it) f, spatola (it) f
• Tagalog: espatula

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: шпа́тель (ru) m (špátelʹ)
• Swedish: spatel 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} spatule (fr) f (3)

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} spatola (it) f (1,2,3)

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Latin

Alternative forms

• spathula

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈspa.tu.la/, [ˈs̠pät̪ʊɫ̪ä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈspa.tu.la/, [ˈspɑːt̪ulɑ]

Noun

spatula f (genitive spatulae); first declension

1. a broad, flat piece.

   spatula porcina — "leg of pork".

2. a little palm frond.
3. (Late Latin) a scapula (shoulder blade).
4. (Late Latin) a spoon or spatula (kitchenware).

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	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 (“shoulder”)
• Asturian: espalda (“back”)
• Catalan: espatlla (“shoulder”)
• → Catalan: espàtula
• → English: spatula
• French: épaule (“shoulder”)
• → French: spatule
• Friulian: spale (“shoulder”)
• → Greek: σπάτουλα (spátoula)
• Italian: spalla (“shoulder”)
• → Italian: spatola

• Occitan: espatla (“shoulder”)
• → Occitan: espatula
• Portuguese: espalda
• → Portuguese: espátula
• → Portuguese: espádua (semi-learned)
• → Romanian: spatulă
• Romansch: spatla (“shoulder”)
• Sicilian: spadda (“shoulder”)
• Spanish: espalda (“back”)
• → Spanish: espátula
• Venetian: spała
• → Venetian: spatoła
• → Venetian: spadoła (semi-learned)
• Walloon: spale

References

• spatula in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879
• spatula in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• spatula in Gaffiot, Félix, Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, 1934