spick-and-span

Meaning

Clean, spotless.

Synonyms

spotless

spic-and-span

clean

spic

brand-new

neat

tidy

speckless

bran-new

neat and clean

immaculate

brand new

spick

pristine

cleanly

clear

cloudless

net

new

🆕

plain

blank

pure

sheer

smokeless

spruce

clean and tidy

Translations

blitzblank

imaculado

nickel

immaculé

immaculat

inmaculado

καθαρός

impeccable

picobello

καινουργής

καθαρώτατος

ακηλίδωτος

άμωμος

d’une propreté irréprochable

fleckenlos

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: span-new

Cognate with Old English: spon

Cognate with English: spoon

Cognate with Old English: nīewe

Cognate with English: new

In summary

From spick-and-span-new (literally “new as a recently made spike and chip of wood”) (1570s), from spick (“nail”, variant of spike) + Middle English span-new (“very new”) (from circa 1300 until 1800s), from Old Norse span-nyr, from spann (“chip”) (cognate to Old English spón, English spoon, due to spoons once being made of wood) + nyr (“new”) (cognate to Old English nīewe, English new). Imitation of Dutch spiksplinternieuw (literally “spike-splinter new”), for a freshly built ship. Observe that fresh woodchips are firm and light (if from light wood), but decay and darken rapidly, hence the origin of the term.