Word.ws English Dictionary

spa

UK/ˈspɑː//ˈspɑ/

spa noun: a health resort near a mineral spring or hot spring.

Noun (1)

spa (plural spas)

  1. A health resort near a mineral spring or hot spring.
  2. A trendy or fashionable resort.
  3. A health club.
    • They went to a spa for a massage.
  4. A hot tub.
    • Their bath is fitted with a spa.
  5. (Maine, Rhode Island, Massachusetts) A convenience store.

Noun (2)

IPA/spɑː/

spa (plural spas)

  1. (Ireland, slang) An idiot; a gobshite
    • What the fuck was she talking about, he must think she's such a spa.2010, Paul Murray, Skippy Dies, →ISBN
    • ['...] We'll say it was just the two of us sitting in the shed having a chat.'
      'Don't be such a spa. Nobody will believe we were sitting in the shed having a chat.[...']2018, Rachael English, The Night of the Party
  2. (Ireland, slang) A clumsy person (see spastic)
    • — Hit it.
      He missed.
      — You're a big spa, I told him.1993, Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, →ISBN, page 17

Noun (3) capitalized: SPA

SPA (countable and uncountable, plural SPAs)

  1. (UK, abbreviation, initialism, pensions) Initialism of state pension age.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism, web development) Initialism of single-page application.
  3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of single-packet authorization.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of special power of attorney.
  5. (abbreviation, initialism, wildlife conservation) Initialism of special protection area.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: SPA

SPA

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of Saudi Press Agency.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Spa

Spa

  1. A city in the province of Liège, Wallonia, Belgium.
  2. (informal) The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, a motor racing circuit located near the city of Spa.

Noun (4) capitalized: SpA

SpA (countable and uncountable, plural SpAs)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of spondyloarthritis.

spa meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

spa in Hindi

स्पा

spa in Tamil

ஸ்பா

spa in Marathi

स्पा, स्पॅ

spa in Urdu

سپا, اسپا
More languagesFewer languages
spa in Bengali
স্পা
spa in Telugu
స్పా
spa in Malayalam
സ്പാ
spa in Kannada
ಸ್ಪಾ
spa in Punjabi
ਸ੍ਪਾ
spa in Gujarati
સ્પા
spa in Odia
ସ୍ପା
spa in Nepali
स्पा
spa in Arabic
مُنْتَجَع muntajaʕ

Examples of spa in a sentence

  • I regularly visit the spa for a massage and a facial cleanse.
  • The luxuriousness of the spa was present even in the expensive paper fittingly used for the bill.
  • I feel much better. The week at the health spa did a power of good.

All 33 example sentences with spa

Synonyms of spa

Forms of spa

pluralspas
pluralSPAs
pluralSpAs
alternative form (obsolete)spaw

Plural of spa: spas

Origin of spa

The term is derived from the name of the Belgian town of Spa, where since medieval times illnesses caused by iron deficiency were treated by drinking chalybeate (iron-bearing) spring water. In 16ᵗʰ century England the old Roman ideas of medicinal bathing were revived at towns like Bath, and in 1571 William Slingsby who had been to the Belgian town (which he called Spaw) discovered a chalybeate spring in Yorkshire. He built an enclosed well at what became known as Harrogate, the first resort in England for drinking medicinal waters, then in 1596 Dr. Timothy Bright called the resort The English Spaw, beginning the use of the word Spa as a generic description rather than as the place name of the Belgian town. At first this term referred specifically to resorts for water drinking rather than bathing, but this distinction was gradually lost and many spas offer external remedies. There are various stories about the origin of the name. A Belgian spring of iron-bearing water was called Espa from the Walloon term for "fountain", and was used in 1326 as a cure by an iron master with such success that he founded a health resort that developed into the town, though it has been suggested that...

Shortened form of spastic

The town name is from Walloon espa (“fountain, spring”), which could be from Latin spargere (“to spread, scatter”) or spatium (“free space”).

Words formed from spa

Phrases with spa

Words that rhyme with spa

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about spa

What does spa mean?
Spa means a health resort near a mineral spring or hot spring.
What is spa in Hindi?
Spa in Hindi is स्पा. See Spa meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is spa?
Spa can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce spa?
Spa is pronounced /ˈspɑː/ (UK).
What is the plural of spa?
The plural of spa is spas.

Words near spa in the dictionary

  1. Soʻx
  2. sp
  3. sp.
  4. sp. gr.
  5. sp. nov.
  6. spa
  7. spa bath
  8. spa baths
  9. spa cuisine
  10. spa pool
  11. spa pools

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: spa (page history and authors); SPA (page history and authors); Spa (page history and authors); SpA (page history and authors); spa (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); spa (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-spa.oga, En-au-spa.ogg.

Cite this entry: “spa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.