spean

Meanings

Noun

• A teat or nipple of a cow

Verb

• to wean

Origin

• From Middle English *spene, *spane, from Old English spane, spanu, from Proto-West Germanic *spanu, *spenu, from Proto-Germanic *spenô, from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn. Cognate with West Frisian spien, Dutch speen, Danish spene, Swedish spene, Icelandic speni.
• Alternatively a borrowing from Dutch speen, from the same Proto-Germanic origin as above.
• From Middle English spanen, probably a borrowing from Middle Dutch spanen, spenen or Middle Low German spānen, spēnen, spōnen, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *spanjaną, *spanōną, from Proto-Germanic *spenô, from Proto-Indo-European *pstḗn. Cognate with Dutch spenen, German spänen, Old French espanir (< Germanic).