spread

spread · verb, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*(s)per-“to strew, sow, sprinkle”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*spraidijaną“to spread”
3. Old English · inherited fromsprǣdan“to spread, expand”
4. Middle English · inherited fromspreden
5. English todayspread

From Middle English spreden, from Old English sprǣdan (“to spread, expand”), from Proto-Germanic *spraidijaną (“to spread”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)per- (“to strew, sow, sprinkle”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian spreede (“to spread”), West Frisian spriede (“to spread”), North Frisian spriedjen (“to spread”), Dutch spreiden (“to spread”), Low German spreden (“to spread”), German spreiten (“to spread, spread out”), Danish sprede (“to spread”), Norwegian spre, spreie (“to spread, disseminate”), Swedish sprida (“to spread”), Latin spernō, spargō, Ancient Greek σπείρω (speírō), Persian سپردن (sepordan, “to deposit”). Doublet of spurn.

spread · verb, noun²

Blend of speed + read.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 13th c. To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.
• from 13th c. To extend (individual rays, limbs etc.); to stretch out in varying or opposing directions. simple past and past participle of spread
• from 13th c. To disperse, to scatter or distribute over a given area.
• from 13th c. To proliferate; to become more widely present, to be disseminated.
• from 14th c. To disseminate; to cause to proliferate, to make (something) widely known or present.
• from 14th c. To take up a larger area or space; to expand, be extended.
• from 16th c. To smear, to distribute in a thin layer.
• from 16th c. To cover (something) with a thin layer of some substance, as of butter.