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spiel

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spiel¹

  • /ʃpiːl/
  • /spiːl/

Rhymes with -iːl

Where it comes from

Borrowed from German Spiel (“game, performance”) or Yiddish שפּיל (shpil), both from Middle High German spil, from Old High German spil, from Proto-West Germanic *spil.

Cognate with Old English spilian (“to revel, play”). See speel.

noun spiels · shpeal · schpeal · shpiel · schpiel · schpeel

  1. countable, uncountable A lengthy and extravagant speech or argument usually intended to persuade. I'd love to be there with a real pretty spiel / But three little words can explain how I feel
  2. countable, uncountable An early form of rap music. Watt gets his turn on the mic too, delivering an amusingly disjointed rap (following Minutemen tradition, he calls it a spiel) on "Me & You, Remembering."

verb spiels · spieling · spieled · shpeal · schpeal

  1. intransitive To talk at length. For a second our eyes met and he gave me a contemptuous smile, then he spieled again.
  2. intransitive To give a sales pitch; to promote by speaking.

spiel²

  • /spiːl/

Rhymes with -iːl

Where it comes from

From the Scots spiel (“game, play; curling match”) from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German spel.

noun spiels

  1. A curling tournament. The portion of ice set apart for a curling spiel was called the lead, rank, or rink (by which last name it is still described), and as it was then shorter than it is now — its ordinary length being 30 yards

Translations

Every language

noun A lengthy and extravagant speech or argument usually intended to persuade

Españolperorata, parrafada, monserga, monsergas
Portuguêsconversa fiada
Françaisboniment
Deutschlanges Gerede, Schwafelei, Geschwafel
Italianotiritera, sproloquio
Românăperorație
Русскийкрасноречивая история, призывная речь

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{spiel_2026,
  title = {spiel},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spiel},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}