different between spoon vs portion

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: spo?on
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /spu?n/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /spun/
• Rhymes: -u?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English sp?n (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-Germanic *sp?nuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peh?- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”).

Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen, Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek ???? (sph?n, “wedge”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer and coclear (“spoon”) both ultimately borrowed from the Latin.

The "unit of energy" semse was coined by writer, speaker and lupus patient advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003.

Noun

spoon (plural spoons)

1. An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
2. An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.
3. A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.
4. (golf, archaic) A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern three wood.
5. (slang) An oar.
   • 1877, The Country (volumes 1-2, page 339)

     To this class college rowing offers no attractions or place, nor are they generally looked upon by the artists of the "spoons" as a desirable addition […]

6. (fishing) A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
7. (dentistry, informal) A spoon excavator.
8. (figuratively, slang, archaic) A simpleton, a spooney.
   • 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Chapter 23

     To get all the advantages of being with men of this sort, you must know how to draw your inferences and not be a spoon who takes things literally.

9. (US, military) A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.
10. (slang) A metaphoric unit of energy available for daily activities.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

spoon (third-person singular simple present spoons, present participle spooning, simple past and past participle spooned)

1. To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
2. (intransitive, dated) To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.
   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 7

     Do you think we spoon and do? We only talk.

3. (transitive or intransitive, informal, of persons) To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
   • 1905 "If the Man in the Moon were a Coon"

     No roaming 'round the park at night / No spooning in the bright moonlight

4. (tennis, golf, croquet) To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
5. (intransitive) To fish with a concave spoon bait.
6. (transitive) To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.
   • 1888, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere

     He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• cutlery
• ladle
• silverware

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain. Compare spoom.

Verb

spoon (third-person singular simple present spoons, present participle spooning, simple past and past participle spooned)

1. Alternative form of spoom

   • We might have spooned before the wind as well as they.

Derived terms

• spoon-drift

Translations

Anagrams

• Poons, no-ops, opson, poons, snoop

Middle English

Noun

spoon

1. Alternative form of spone

English

Etymology

From Middle English porcioun, borrowed from Old French porcion, from Latin portio (“a share, part, portion, relation, proportion”), akin to pars (“part”); see part. Compare proportion.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p????n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p????n/
• (Scotland, Ireland, other varieties without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?po????n/, /?po????n/, /?po???n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)??n

Noun

portion (plural portions)

1. An allocated amount.
2. That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.
3. One's fate; lot.
   • Man's portion is to die and rise again.

4. The part of an estate given or falling to a child or heir; an inheritance.
5. A wife's fortune; a dowry.
   • 1613, William Shakespeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen, V. iv. 31:

     Commend me to her, and to piece her portion / Tender her this.

Usage notes

Relatively formal, compared to the more informal part or more concrete and casual piece. For example, “part of the money” (both informal) but “portion of the proceeds” (both formal).

Synonyms

• part
• piece

Derived terms

• portionless
• proportion
• underportion

Translations

Verb

portion (third-person singular simple present portions, present participle portioning, simple past and past participle portioned)

1. (transitive) To divide into amounts, as for allocation to specific purposes.
2. (transitive) To endow with a portion or inheritance.
   • 1733, Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst

     Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest.

Translations

Usage notes

• Particularly used as portion out.
• Relatively formal, compared to the more informal divide, divide up, or the casual divvy, divvy up.

Synonyms

• apportion
• divide, divide up
• divvy, divvy up

Derived terms

• portion off
• portion out

Further reading

• portion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• portion in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin portionem (accusative singular of portio).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??.sj??/

Noun

portion f (plural portions)

1. portion

Descendants

• ? Turkish: porsiyon

Further reading

• “portion” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• potiron

Interlingua

Noun

portion (plural portiones)

1. portion

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

portion c

1. serving, an helping of food

Declension

Related terms

• portionera