Etymology

spin

S1P3I1N1

Today it means: To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction. Full definition →

Middle English spinnen ← Old English spinnan ← Proto-Germanic *spinnaną
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spin · verb, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*(s)penh₁-
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*spinnaną
  3. Old English · inherited fromspinnan
  4. Middle English · inherited fromspinnen
  5. English todayspin

From Middle English spinnen, from Old English spinnan, from Proto-Germanic *spinnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁-. Cognates Cognate with Dutch, German spinnen (“to spin”), Luxembourgish spannen (“to spin”), Yiddish שפּינען (shpinen, “spin”), Danish spinde (“to spin”), Faroese, Icelandic and Swedish spinna (“to spin”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk spinne (“to spin”), Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 (spinnan, “to spin”).

spin · noun2

Clipping of spinnaker.

spin · noun3

Clipping of special interest.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*spinnaną all →

spiderspan

Proto-Indo-European*(s)penh₁- all →

panicspangle

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.