spade

Meaning

Noun

1. A garden tool with a handle and a flat blade for digging. Not to be confused with a shovel which is used for moving earth or other materials.
2. A cutting instrument used in flensing a whale.

Verb

To turn over soil with a spade to loosen the ground for planting.

Concepts

spade

shovel

hoe

trowel

dig

scoop

grub

coon

jigaboo

nigger

nigra

mattock

gibe

jab

poke

shove

till

digger

nigga

spado

tool

handle

spoon

string

plowshare

peak

digging tool

burrow

toad

spathe

hoe in general

pick-axe

chisel

spit

dig up

flense

eunuch

spay

Negro

backing-off

grafting tool

axe

cane

stick

scoop shovel

ridge

casserole

cauldron

hot pot

kettle

marmite

pot

pick

plough

plow

fire irons

how

heavy

Pronounced as (IPA)

/speɪd/

Etymology

From Middle English spade, from Old English spada, spade, spadu (“spade”), from Proto-Germanic *spadǭ, *spadô, *spadō (“spade”). Cognate with Dutch spade, Old Frisian spada, Old Saxon spado, German Spaten, Hunsrik Spaad. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sph₂-dʰ-, whence also Ancient Greek σπάθη (spáthē, “blade”), Hittite 𒅖𒉺𒀀𒋻 (išpatar, “spear”), Persian سپار (sopâr, “plow”), Northern Luri ئەسپار (aspār, “digging”) and Central Kurdish ئەسپەر (esper), ئەسپەرە (espere, “cross-piece on shaft of spade to take pressure of foot”). Distant doublet of spatha, spathe, and épée.