different between phlegm vs spit

English

Etymology

From Middle English flewme, fleume, fleme, from Old French fleume, Middle French flemme (French flegme), and their source, Latin phlegma, from Ancient Greek ?????? (phlégma, “flame; inflammation; clammy humor in the body”), from ??????? (phlégein, “to burn”). Compare phlox, flagrant, flame, bleak (adjective), fulminate. Spelling later altered to resemble the word's Latin and Greek roots.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /fl?m/
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

phlegm (usually uncountable, plural phlegms)

1. (historical) One of the four humors making up the body in ancient and mediaeval medicine; said to be cold and moist, and often identified with mucus. [from 13th c.]
   • 1993, William Dalrymple, City of Djinns, HarperCollins 1993:

     Each person's unique mixture of these substances determines his temperament: a predominance of blood gives a sanguine temperament; a predominance of phlegm makes one phlegmatic; yellow bile, bilious (or choleric); and black bile, melancholic.

2. Viscid mucus produced by the body, later especially mucus expelled from the bronchial passages by coughing. [from 14th c.]
   • 2005, "Endangered Species?" Hannah Beech, Time, 14 Nov 2005:

     "Even some members of the new bourgeoisie indulge in conspicuously boorish behavior, like hawking phlegm onto the pavement or picking their noses at business meetings."

4. (historical, chemistry, alchemy) A watery distillation, especially one obtained from plant matter; an aqueous solution. [from 16th c.]
   • 1812, Humphry Davy, The Elements of Chemical Philosophy, Introduction, Part I. Vol. I, pp. 50-51:

     The attempts made to analyse vegetable substances previous to 1720, merely produced their resolution into the supposed elements of the chemists of those days, namely, salts, Earths, phlegm, and sulphur.

5. Calmness of temperament, composure; also seen negatively, sluggishness, indifference. [from 16th c.]
   • 1942, "Warning to Sweden", Time, 5 Oct 1942:

     But Swedish Nazis also talked of the necessity of saving Sweden from Bolshevism, and with the menacing Berlin radio gnawing in their ears many Swedes lost their Scandinavian phlegm.

Related terms

• phlegmatic

Derived terms

• phlegmish
• phlegmy

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “phlegm”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• “phlegm” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /sp?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

The noun is from Middle English spit, spite, spete, spette, spyte, spytte (“rod on which meat is cooked; rod used as a torture instrument; short spear; point of a spear; spine in the fin of a fish; pointed object; dagger symbol; land projecting into the sea”), from Old English spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”), from Proto-Germanic *spit? (“rod; skewer; spike”), *spituz (“rod on which meat is cooked; stick”), from Proto-Indo-European *spid-, *spey- (“sharp; sharp stick”). The English word is cognate with Danish spid, Dutch spit, German Low German Spitt (“pike, spear; spike; skewer; spit”), Swedish spett (“skewer; spit; type of crowbar”).

The verb is derived from the noun, or from Middle English spiten (“to put on a spit; to impale”), from spit, spite: see above. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch speten, spitten (modern Dutch speten), Middle Low German speten (Low German spitten, modern German spießen (“to skewer, to spear”), spissen (now dialectal)).

Noun

spit (plural spits)

1. A thin metal or wooden rod on which meat is skewered for cooking, often over a fire.

   Synonym: broach
2. A generally low, narrow, pointed, usually sandy peninsula.

Derived terms

• Spithead (sense 2)

Translations

Verb

spit (third-person singular simple present spits, present participle spitting, simple past and past participle spitted)

1. (transitive) To impale on a spit; to pierce with a sharp object.
2. (transitive) To use a spit to cook; to attend to food that is cooking on a spit.

Translations

Etymology 2

The verb is from Middle English sp??ten, spete (“to spit (blood, phlegm, saliva, venom, etc.); of a fire: to emit sparks”), from Old English sp?tan (“to spit; to squirt”); or from Middle English spit, spitte, spitten (“to spit (blood, phlegm, saliva, venom, etc.); of a fire: to emit sparks”), from Old English spittan, spyttan (“to spit”), both from Proto-Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)?w, *spy?, ultimately imitative; compare Middle English spitelen (“to spit out, expectorate”) and English spew. The English word is cognate with Danish spytte (“to spit”), North Frisian spütte, Norwegian spytte (“to spit”), Swedish spotta (“to spit”), Old Norse spýta (Faroese spýta (“to spit”), Icelandic spýta (“to spit”)).

The noun is derived from the verb; compare Danish spyt (“spit”), Middle English spit, spytte (“saliva, spittle, sputum”), spet (“saliva, spittle”), sp??tel (“saliva, spittle”), North Frisian spiit.

Verb

spit (third-person singular simple present spits, present participle spitting, simple past and past participle spat or spit)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.

   Synonym: expectorate
2. (transitive, intransitive) To emit or expel in a manner similar to evacuating saliva from the mouth; specifically, to rain or snow slightly.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To utter (something) violently.
4. (transitive, slang, hip-hop) To rap, to utter.
5. (intransitive) To make a spitting sound, like an angry cat.

Usage notes

The past tense and past participle spit is an older form, but remains the more common form used by speakers in North America, and is also used often enough by speakers of British and Commonwealth English to be listed as an alternative form by the Collins English Dictionary and Oxford Dictionaries. A non-standard past participle form is spitten.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

spit (countable and uncountable, plural spits)

1. (uncountable) Saliva, especially when expectorated.

   Synonyms: expectoration, spittle
2. (countable) An instance of spitting; specifically, a light fall of rain or snow.
3. A person who exactly resembles someone else (usually in set phrases; see spitting image)
4. (uncountable) Synonym of slam (“card game”)

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

The noun is from Middle Dutch speet, spit, Middle Low German spêdt, spit (Low German spit); the word is cognate with Dutch spit, North Frisian spatt, spet, West Frisian spit.

The verb is from Middle English spitten (“to dig”), from Old English spittan (“to dig with a spade”), possibly from spitu (“rod on which meat is cooked; spit”); see further at etymology 1. The English word is cognate with Middle Dutch spetten, spitten (modern Dutch spitten), Middle Low German speten, spitten (Low German spitten), North Frisian spat, West Frisian spitte.

Noun

spit (plural spits)

1. The depth to which the blade of a spade goes into the soil when it is used for digging; a layer of soil of the depth of a spade's blade.
2. The amount of soil that a spade holds; a spadeful.

Translations

Verb

spit (third-person singular simple present spits, present participle spitting, simple past and past participle spitted)

1. (transitive, dialectal) To dig (something) using a spade; also, to turn (the soil) using a plough.
2. (transitive, dialectal) To plant (something) using a spade.
3. (intransitive, dialectal) To dig, to spade.

   Synonym: delve

Translations

References

Further reading

• rotisserie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spit (landform) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spitting on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• spit (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• James Orchard Halliwell (1847) , “SPIT”, in A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century. [...] In Two Volumes, volume II (J–Z), London: John Russell Smith, […], OCLC 1008510154, page 785, column 1: “SPIT. (1) The depth a spade goes in digging, about a foot.”

Anagrams

• ISTP, PITs, PTIs, TIPS, pist, pits, sipt, stip, tips

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch spit. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp?t/
• Hyphenation: spit
• Rhymes: -?t

Noun

spit n (plural spitten or speten, diminutive spitje n or speetje n)

1. A skewer.

   Synonyms: braadspit, vleesspies, vleesspit

Related terms

• spies
• spits
• spitten

Ternate

Etymology

From English speed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?spit]

Noun

spit

1. speedboat, motorboat

References

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English speed.

Noun

spit

1. speed

Westrobothnian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spi?t/

  Rhymes: -í?t

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German sp?t. Compare Old Norse spé, Norwegian spit, English spite, Dutch spijt. See also spej.

Noun

spit m

1. Spite, defiance.

   Han åt int na i spit’n

   In defiance he ate nothing.

Derived terms

• spitol
• spituv

Etymology 2

From Old Norse *spítr, from Proto-Germanic *spihtiz. Cognate with Old Norse spéttr, spætr, from *spihtaz, *spehtaz. Compare riit from *rihtijan? and witer from *wihtiz.

Noun

spit m

1. (in compounds) Woodpecker.

Derived terms

• hakkspit
• kackspit

Etymology 3

Noun

spit m

1. Capacity.

Declension

Related terms

• spiit