different between spit vs spiv

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

English

Etymology

Unknown

Perhaps from spiff, spiffy.

Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv, a sparrow as active and opportunistic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sp?v/
• Rhymes: -?v

Noun

spiv (plural spivs)

1. (Britain) A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods.
2. (Britain, dated) A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.

   Synonyms: sharper, chiseler, wide boy; see also Thesaurus:fraudster, Thesaurus:confidence trickster

3. (Britain, dated) In Scotland Yard usage, a low and common thief.
4. (Britain, dated) A slacker; one who shirks responsibility.

Quotations

• "I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than [transport union leader] Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer." -- Vince Cable on the banking system.

Derived terms

• spivery
• spivish
• spivvy

References

Further reading

• "spiv" at World Wide Words Michael Quinion, 2001

Anagrams

• PIVs, V.I.P.s, VIPs