span
/spæn/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.07 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.
noun
Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.
noun
A portion of something by length; a subsequence.
noun
The spread or extent of an arch or between its abutments, or of a beam, girder, truss, roof, bridge, or the like, between supports.
Example Sentences
- "The truth is that the charm of her body made up for her other faults: she measured less than 7 spans¹ from her feet to the top of her head, and her back, which weighed somewhat heavily on her, forced her to look down at the ground more than she would have wished. [...] 1. A span is approximately eight inches."
- "He has a short attention span and gets bored within minutes."
- ""Why in ten thousand years scarce will the rain and storms lessen a mountain top by a span in thickness?""
- "Yet not to Earth's contracted Span, Thy Goodneſs let me bound; […]"
- "Life's but a span; I'll every inch enjoy."
- "The unsilent present is a time of evaporating attention spans,"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-der. Proto-Germanic *spannō Old English spann Middle English spanne English span From Middle English spanne, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spannō (“span, handbreadth”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”). Cognate with Dutch span, spanne, German Spanne. The sense “pair of horses” is probably from Old English ġespan, ġespann (“a joining; a fastening together; clasp; yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?]. Cognate with Dutch gespan, German Gespann.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /spæn/
- British English: /spæn/
Usage
- Canadian usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Dated
- Intransitive verb