Etymology

spade

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Today it means: A garden tool with a handle and a flat blade for digging. Not to be confused with a shovel which is used for moving earth or other materials. Full definition →

Middle English spade ← Old English spada ← Proto-Germanic *spadô
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spade · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*spadô
  2. Old English · inherited fromspada
  3. Middle English · inherited fromspade
  4. English todayspade

From Middle English spade, from Old English spada, spade, spadu (“spade”), from Proto-Germanic *spadô. Doublet of spatha, spathe, and épée.

spade · noun2

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromσπᾰ́θη
  2. Latin · derived fromspatha
  3. Italian · borrowed fromspade
  4. English todayspade

Probably from Italian spade, plural of spada (“the ace of spades”, literally “sword, spade”), from earlier *spata, from Latin spatha, from Ancient Greek σπᾰ́θη (spắthē). Cognate with Etymology 1. So called for the shape, though what the shape was exactly meant to represent has been debated.

Words from the same roots

Latinspatha all →

epeespathespatha

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.