spoonie
/ˈspuː.ni/
spoonie is the alternative form of spoony.
Meaning of spoony
Noun
spoony (plural spoonies)
- A foolish, simple, or silly person.
- A foolishly amorous person.
- Major Pendennis, when the offer of the commission was acknowledged and refused, wrote back a curt and somewhat angry letter to the widow, and thought his nephew was rather a spooney.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850...
Noun (1)
spoonie (plural spoonies)
- A northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata, formerly Anas clypeata).
- Every time a spoonie would alight within 400 yards of "Uncle George" he would proceed to stalk that spoonie with as much care as if it were a ten-point buck.1911, Western Field: The Sportsman's Magazine of the West
- The Northern shoveler, or ”spoonie,” as he is commonly called, has a bill like no other species of North American duck.1994, WETT, Waterfowl Environments Today and Tomorrow, page 21
Noun (2)
spoonie (plural spoonies)
- A person with a chronic illness or disability.
- And if spoonies use up more energy than they really have, and get excessively exhausted as a result, it's known as getting into "spoon deficit".2013 June 21, “Explaining low stamina levels - with spoons”, in BBC News
- People who identified with Miserandino’s metaphor began to self-identify as “spoonies,” seeking support and connection with other sufferers online.2017 July 31, Cassie Werber, “Spoons have become a powerful symbol of people’s invisible pain”, in Quartz
Forms of spoonie
| plural | spoonies |
|---|
Origin of spoonie
Unknown. Possibly related to the phrase born with a silver spoon in one's mouth.
From the spatulate shape of the bill.
From spoon (“unit of limited personal energy”) + -ie. See spoon theory.
Words that rhyme with spoonie
1 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about spoonie
- What does spoonie mean?
- Spoonie means a northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata, formerly Anas clypeata).
- What is spoonie the alternative form of?
- Spoonie is the alternative form of spoony.
- What part of speech is spoonie?
- Spoonie is a noun.
- How do you pronounce spoonie?
- Spoonie is pronounced /ˈspuː.ni/.
- What is the plural of spoonie?
- The plural of spoonie is spoonies.
Words near spoonie in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: spoonie (page history and authors); spoony (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-spoony.wav.
Cite this entry: “spoonie.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/spoonie. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.