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spavin

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spavin¹

  • /ˈspævɪn/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ævɪn

Where it comes from

The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous.

The verb is derived from the noun.

noun spavins

  1. countable A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones. [H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and ſtirrops of no kindred: beſides poſſeſt vvith the glanders, and like to moſe in the chine, troubled vvith the Lampaſſe, infected vvith the faſhions, full of VVindegalls, ſped vvith Spauins, raied vvith the Yellovvs, […]
  2. uncountable A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1). [N]ovv the Bots, the Spauin, and the Glanders, and ſome doſen diſeaſes more, light on him, & his Moyles.
  3. broadly, uncountable A similar disease causing a person's leg to be lame. "As an inventor," Bob Mason suggested, "you're a howling success at shooting craps! If I were as free of spavins, ringbone, saddle-galls, and splints as you are, I'd have that nanny-goat in here, hog-tie her, flop her and let the boy help himself. Why monkey with weak imitations when you can come so

verb spavins · spavining · spavined

  1. rare, transitive To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.2). Mr. Lythe had seen many horses which Mr. Field had passed as sound although they were spavined; and he does not recollect a single instance of lameness among them.
  2. figuratively, rare, transitive To impair or injure (someone or something). But Ahab; oh he’s a hard driver. Look, driven one leg to death, and spavined the other for life, and now wears out bone legs by the cord.

spavin²

  • /ˈspævɪn/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ævɪn

Where it comes from

Origin unknown.

noun spavins

  1. rare, transitive The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.

Translations

Every language

noun bony swelling in a horse’s leg; disease of horses caused by this bony swelling; similar disease causing a person’s leg to be lame

Españolesparaván
हिन्दीहड्डा haḍḍā
Portuguêsesparavão
Françaiséparvin, épervin
DeutschSpat
Italianosparaguagno, giarda, giardo, giardone
Românăeparven
العربيةجرذ

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MLA

"spavin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/spavin. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

spavin. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/spavin

Chicago

"spavin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/spavin.

BibTeX
@misc{spavin_2026,
  title = {spavin},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spavin},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}