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Added 9 October 2026

spew

/spjuː/ verb

In Latin: vomō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about spew at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To eject forcibly and in a stream.
To be forcibly ejected.
To speak or write quickly and voluminously, especially words that are not worth listening to or reading.

noun

Ejaculate or ejaculation.
Nonsense or lies.
Material that has been ejected in a stream, or the act of spewing.

Origin

From Middle English spewen, from Old English spīwan, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ptyēw- (“to spit, vomit”). Germanic cognates include English spit, West Frisian spije, Dutch spuien, Dutch spuwen, Low German speen, spiien, German speien (“to spew, spit, vomit”), Swedish spy, Danish spy, Faroese spýggja, Gothic 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan). Also cognate, through Indo-European, with Latin spuō (“spit”, verb), Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō, “spit, vomit”), Albanian fyt (“throat”), Armenian թուք (tʻukʻ), Russian плева́ть (plevátʹ), Persian تف (tof), Sanskrit ष्ठीवति (ṣṭhī́vati).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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