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Added 9 October 2026

spruce

/spɹuːs/ noun

In Latin: picea Wiktionary

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

Any of various large coniferous evergreen trees or shrubs from the genus Picea, found in northern temperate and boreal regions; originally and more fully spruce fir.
The wood of a spruce.
Made of the wood of the spruce.
That spruce table is beautiful!

adjective

Smart, trim, and elegant in appearance; fastidious (said of a person).

verb

To arrange neatly; tidy up.
To make oneself spruce (neat and elegant in appearance).
To tease. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Origin

From Middle English Spruce, an alteration of Pruce (“Prussia”), from Medieval Latin, from a Baltic language, probably Old Prussian; for more, see Prussia. Spruce, spruse (1412), and Sprws (1378) were terms for commodities brought to England by Hanseatic merchants (beer, wood, leather). The tree with this name was also believed to have been native to Prussia. The adjective and verb senses ("trim, neat" and "to make trim, neat") are attested from 1594, and originate with spruce leather (1466), which was used to make a popular style of jerkins in the 1400s that was considered smart-looking.

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

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