Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

spavin

/ˈspævɪn/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
spa-vin
IPA
/ˈspævɪn/
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.

Countable

noun

A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1).

Uncountable

noun

A similar disease causing a person's leg to be lame.

Uncountable

verb

To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2).

Transitive verb

verb

To impair or injure (someone or something).

Transitive verb

noun

The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.

Transitive verb

Example Sentences

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous. The verb is derived from the noun.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: spavein, espavain

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈspævɪn/
  • British English: /ˈspævɪn/

Usage

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

spavie spavined

Phrases

Frequently Paired Words

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce spavin?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈspævɪn/.
What does spavin mean?
A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.
Where does spavin come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce spavin

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “spavin”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈspævɪn/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “spavin”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “spavin” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.