spean
/spiːn/
spean noun: a teat or nipple of a cow. Also the archaic form of spane.
Noun
spean (plural speans)
- A teat or nipple of a cow.
- The Genital part is all nervy; the Tail ſmall; and the Hind hath Udders betwixt her Thighs, with four Speans or Tets, like a Cow.[1780?], Nicholas Coxe, The Huntſman. Containing the Best Methods of Sport, for Courſing with Greyhounds, and Hunting All Kinds of Chases in England, […] , London: J. Dixwell, page 50
Proper noun capitalized: Spean
Spean
Also used as
spean is also the archaic form of spane.
Forms of spean
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | speans |
| alternative Scotland | spane |
| alternative Kent | spene |
| alternative Kent | speen |
| alternative form (obsolete) | spaine |
| alternative form (obsolete) | speane |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | speans |
| present participle | speaning |
| past participle | speaned |
| past | speaned |
Origin of spean
From Middle English *spene, *spane, from Old English spane, spanu (“teat”), from Proto-West Germanic *spanu, *spenu, from Proto-Germanic *spenô (“nipple”), from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn (“breast; teat”). Cognate with West Frisian spien (“nipple”), Dutch speen (“nipple”), Danish spene (“teat”), Swedish spene (“teat, nipple, dug”), Icelandic speni (“teat”). Alternatively a borrowing from Dutch speen (“nipple, teat”), from the same Proto-Germanic origin as above.
From Middle English spanen (“to wean”); see spane.
Words formed from spean
Words that rhyme with spean
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- glean
- between
- byzantine
- canteen
- greene
- preen
- Racine
- careen
- intervene
- lean
- wean
- Christine
- obscene
- routine
- skene
- spleen
- submarine
- cuisine
- gasoline
- irene
- red bean
- serene
- -ene
- baleen
- demean
- eleventeen
- fascine
- gombeen
- latrine
- pristine
- Qazvin
- sheen
- tangerine
- unclean
- unseen
- vaccine
- amine
- aquamarine
- Beane
- beseen
- bottine
- chopine
- Enigma machine
- Eugene
- gene
- in between
- internecine
- jean
Questions about spean
- What does spean mean?
- Spean means a teat or nipple of a cow.
- What part of speech is spean?
- Spean can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce spean?
- Spean is pronounced /spiːn/.
- What is the plural of spean?
- The plural of spean is speans.
Words near spean in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spean (page history and authors); Spean (page history and authors). 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:
Cite this entry: “spean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.