Etymology

sprinkle

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Today it means: To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance). Full definition →

Middle English sprenkelen ← Middle Dutch sprenkelen
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The story

  1. Middle Dutch · derived fromsprenkelen
  2. Middle English · inherited fromsprenkelen
  3. English todaysprinkle

From Middle English sprenkelen, sprynklen, from Middle Dutch sprenkelen, equivalent to sprink + -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch sprenkelen (“to sprinkle”), German Low German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle; dapple”), German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.