Etymology

sputter

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Today it means: Moist matter thrown out in small detached particles. Full definition →

Middle English *sputren
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The story

  1. Middle English · derived fromsputen“to spout, vomit”
  2. Middle English · inherited from*sputren
  3. English todaysputter

Probably representing Middle English *sputren, *sputrien, a frequentative form of Middle English sputen (“to spout, vomit”), equivalent to spout + -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian spüttern (“to inject, spray, splash”), West Frisian sputterje (“to sputter”), Dutch sputteren (“to sputter”), Low German sputtern, spruttern (“to sprinkle”), German sprudeln (“to spout, squirt”). Compare splutter.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.