Noun: spean
| Singular | spean |
| Plural | speans |
Sample Sentences
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The Genital part is all nervy; the Tail ſmall; and the Hind hath Udders betwixt her Thighs, with four Speans or Tets, like a Cow. [[1780?], Nicholas Coxe, The Huntſman. Containing the Best Methods of Sport, for Courſing with Greyhounds, and Hunting All Kinds of Chases in England, […] , London: J. Dixwell, page 50:]
Nouns inflected like spean
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle English *spene, *spane, from Old English spane, spanu (“teat”), from Proto-West Germanic *spanu, *spenu, 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”).
2. Alternatively a borrowing from Dutch speen (“nipple, teat”), from the same Proto-Germanic origin as above. See: Middle English Nouns '
*spene', Old English Nouns '
spane', Dutch Nouns '
speen', Swedish Nouns '
spene', Icelandic Nouns '
speni', Dutch Nouns '
speen'.
Verbs referencing "spean"
Irish Nouns
sine, Icelandic Nouns
speni, Old English Nouns
spane, Old English Nouns
spanu.