spean
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English *spene, *spane, from Old English spane, spanu (“teat”), from Proto-Germanic *spenô (“nipple”), from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn (“breast; teat”). Cognate with West Frisian spien (“nipple”), Dutch speen (“nipple”), Danish spene (“teat”), Swedish spene (“teat, nipple, dug”), Icelandic speni (“teat”).
Alternatively a borrowing from Dutch speen (“nipple, teat”), from the same Proto-Germanic origin as above.
Noun
spean (plural speans)
Etymology 2
From Middle English spanen (“to wean”), probably a borrowing from Middle Dutch spanen, spenen or Middle Low German spānen, spēnen, spōnen (“to wean”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spanjaną, *spanōną, from Proto-Germanic *spenô (“nipple”), from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn (“breast; teat”). Cognate with Dutch spenen (“to wean”), German spänen (“to wean”), Old French espanir (“to wean”) (< Germanic).
Verb
spean (third-person singular simple present speans, present participle speaning, simple past and past participle speaned)
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