spitting image

Signification (Anglais)

The exact likeness (of someone); speaking image.

Concepts

portrait craché

image

portrait

portrait vivant

spitting image

Synonymes

image

spit and image

the spit of

entirely

just like

all

ringer

spit image

splitting image

likeness

altogether

double

Traductions

Ebenbild

alle

insgesamt

spaccato

tale e quale

doble

alles

el vivo retrato

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/

Étymologie (Anglais)

An alteration of the earlier spitten image (see spitten). A popular folk etymology explains this phrase as deriving from the idea of a father spitting out a child whole from his mouth, as if giving birth. But spitten image actually developed from spit and image, where spit in this context means “likeness”. Terban further suggests a derivation of this sense of spit from the word spirit, but evidence for this is lacking. Another theory is that the idiom is Biblical, after an image of God spitting into dry earth to make the clay out of which Adam would be formed.