spoon

/spuːn/

spoon noun: an implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle. Also the alternative form of spoom.

Image: Fg2, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

spoon (plural spoons)

An implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
- He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
An implement for stirring food while being prepared; a wooden spoon.
A measure that will fit into a spoon; a spoonful.
- While Ms. Fly was with Sharon in the kitchen, Sharon asked the defendant for a “spoon of drugs.” Defendant refused and stated that he did not know where drugs could be obtained.1978, Illinois. Supreme Court, Reports of Cases at Law and in Chancery..., page 76
(archaic) A wooden-headed golf club with moderate loft, similar to the modern fairway wood.
(slang) An oar.
- To this class college rowing offers no attractions or place, nor are they generally looked upon by the artists of the "spoons" as a desirable addition […]1877, The Country, volumes 1-2, page 339
A type of metal lure resembling the concave head of a tablespoon.
(informal) A spoon excavator.
A South African shrub of the genus Spatalla.
(archaic, figuratively, slang) A simpleton, a spoony.
- To get all the advantages of being with men of this sort, you must know how to draw your inferences and not be a spoon who takes things literally.1872, George Eliot, “Chapter 23”, in Middlemarch
(US) A safety handle on a hand grenade, a trigger.
(slang) A metaphoric unit of finite physical and mental energy available for daily activities, especially in the context of living with chronic illness or disability.
- We therefore have to meticulously plan out each day with the small amount of spoons we have. Each task will cost us at least one spoon.2014 March 12, “The Spoon Theory – Rationing my Legs & Energy”, in Spoonie Sophia, WordPress
- You work, and play, and clean, and love, and hate, and that's lots of damn spoons . . . but if you are young and healthy you still have spoons left over as you fall asleep and wait for the new supply of spoons to be delivered in the morning.2015, Jenny Lawson, Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things, page 241

Verb

spoon (third-person singular simple present spoons, present participle spooning, simple past and past participle spooned)

To serve using a spoon; to transfer (something) with a spoon.
- Sarah spooned some apple sauce onto her plate.
- Talbot champed away, finally spooning in resignation with the tinned fruit salad, calm of mind reached with the last piece of cheese, all passion spent in the third drained coffee-cup.1958, Anthony Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 365
(dated, intransitive) To flirt; to make advances; to court, to interact romantically or amorously.
- By the light of the silvery moon, / I want to spoon, / To my honey I'll croon love's tune, […]1909, “By the Light of the Silvery Moon”, Ed[ward] Madden (lyrics), Gus Edwards (music), New York, N.Y.: Gus Edwards Music Pub Co, →OCLC, pages 4–5
- Do you think we spoon and do? We only talk.1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 7, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC
(informal, intransitive, transitive) To lie nestled front-to-back, following the contours of the bodies, in a manner reminiscent of stacked spoons.
1. (broadly, informal, intransitive, transitive) To have sex in such a position.
(croquet) To hit (the ball) weakly, pushing it with a lifting motion, instead of striking with an audible knock.
- Law is in the field; the Criminal at the wicket. If Law makes a mistake—sends down a loose ball or drops a catch—the Criminal scores a little or has another lease of life. But if he makes a mistake—if he lets a straight ball pass or spoons towards a steady man—he is done for.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
- Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory.2012 June 28, Jamie Jackson, “Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal”, in the Guardian
(intransitive) To fish with a concave spoon bait.
(transitive) To catch by fishing with a concave spoon bait.
- He had with him all the tackle necessary for spooning pike.1888, Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere

Also used as

spoon is also the alternative form of spoom.

spoon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

spoon in Hindi

scooped utensil for eating (or serving): चम्मच cammac, चम्चा camcā, चमस camas, दर्वि darvi, दर्वी darvī

spoon in Tamil

scooped utensil for eating (or serving): ஸ்பூன் spūṉ, கரண்டி karaṇṭi

spoon in Marathi

scooped utensil for eating (or serving): चमचा camcā, चमस camas, दर्वि darvi, दर्वी darvī

spoon in Urdu

scooped utensil for eating (or serving): چَمَّچ cammac, چَمْچَہ camca

More languagesFewer languages

spoon in Bengali: চামচ camoc
spoon in Telugu: చెమ్చా cemcā, గాలము gālamu, లంగరు laṅgaru
spoon in Malayalam: സ്പൂണ് spūṇ, കരണ്ടി karaṇṭi, തവി tavi
spoon in Kannada: ಚಮಚ camaca
spoon in Punjabi: ਚਮਚਾ camcā
spoon in Gujarati: ચમચો camco, ચમચી camcī
spoon in Odia: ଚାମଚ cāmaca
spoon in Sanskrit: दर्वि darvi, चमस camasa, दर्वी darvī
spoon in Sinhala: හැන්ද hænda
spoon in Assamese: চামুচ samus
spoon in Nepali: चम्चा camcā
spoon in Pashto: کاچوغه kāčúǧa
spoon in Tagalog: kutsara
spoon in Arabic: مِلْعَقَة milʕaqa, معلقة maʕlaʔa, خَاشُوقَة ḵāšūga, قفشة gafša
spoon in Malay: sudu, menyudukan
spoon in Indonesian: sendok, sudu
spoon in Persian: قَاشُق qāšuq, چَمْچَه čamča, چُمْچَه čumča, قاشُق ġâšoġ
spoon in Thai: ช้อน chɔ́ɔn
spoon in Vietnamese: thìa, muỗng
spoon in Myanmar: ဇွန်း jwan:
Sindhi: چَمْچو camco
Dzongkha: ཐུར་མ thur ma

Examples of spoon in a sentence

Once you're out of spoons for the day, that's it, no more energy.2016, Tymber Dalton, Two Against Nature, page 86:
But if you're running low on spoons, take some time out to recharge.2018, Donna Alward, Nancy Cassidy, Adulting 101: Writing Through Life and Other Adventures:
Both relate and support each other when they have run out of spoons.2018, Dennis J. DeWitt, Zoe Died. What Now?: Finding Hope in Times of Loss:
Spoon the yogurt sauce over the vegetables on the sheet pan.2022, Melissa Clark, Dinner in One, →ISBN, page 49:

All 40 example sentences with spoon

Forms of spoon

Noun
plural	spoons
Verb
third-person singular present	spoons
present participle	spooning
past participle	spooned
past	spooned

Plural of spoon: spoons

Origin of spoon

From Middle English spoon, spoune, spone, spon (“spoon, chip of wood”), from Old English spōn (“sliver, chip of wood, shaving”), from Proto-West Germanic *spānu, from Proto-Germanic *spēnuz (“chip, flake, shaving”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peH- (“chip, shaving, log, length of wood”). Cognate with Scots spun, spon (“spoon, shingle”), West Frisian spoen (“chip”), Dutch spaan (“chip, flinders”), German Span (“chip, flake, shaving”), Swedish spån (“chip, flake”), Norwegian Nynorsk spon (“chip, spoon”), Faroese spónur (“wood chip; spoon”), Ancient Greek σφήν (sphḗn, “wedge”)(though the connection to the Greek is likely impossible by modern reconstructions of PIE). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cuculer, coclear (“spoon”), from Old English cuculer, cuceler, cucler, borrowed from Latin cochlear (“spoon”). The "metaphoric unit of personal energy" sense was coined by writer and disability advocate Christine Miserandino in 2003 (see spoon theory).

Uncertain. Compare spoom.

Words formed from spoon

Phrases with spoon

47 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with spoon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about spoon

What does spoon mean?: Spoon means an implement for eating or serving; a scooped utensil whose long handle is straight, in contrast to a ladle.
What is spoon in Hindi?: Spoon in Hindi is चम्मच (cammac), चम्चा (camcā), चमस (camas). See Spoon meaning in Hindi.
How do you use spoon in a sentence?: Once you're out of spoons for the day, that's it, no more energy.
What part of speech is spoon?: Spoon can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce spoon?: Spoon is pronounced /spuːn/.
What is the plural of spoon?: The plural of spoon is spoons.

Words near spoon in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: spoon (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-a spoon.ogg, En-us-spoon.ogg.

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