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spoor

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spoor¹

  • /spʊə/ UK
  • /spɔː/ UK
  • /spʊɹ/ US
  • /spɔɹ/ US
  • /spʉːɹ/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
  • /spuːɹ/ Ireland

Sounds like spore (in some accents) · Rhymes with -ʊə(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Early 19th century, from Afrikaans spoor, from Dutch spoor (“track”).

Akin to Old English and Old Norse spor (whence Danish spor), and German Spur, all from Proto-Germanic *spurą. Compare spurn.

noun spoors

  1. uncountable, usually The track, trail, droppings, or scent of an animal. We all stopped to examine that monstrous spoor. If it were indeed a bird - and what animal could leave such a mark? - its foot was so much larger than an ostrich's that its height upon the same scale must be enormous.

verb spoors · spooring · spoored

  1. transitive To track (an animal) by following its spoor.

Spoor²

Where it comes from

From the Dutch and English surname, from the noun spur. From being a maker of spurs.

proper noun Spoors

  1. An occupational surname from Middle English

    Similar: Spaw, Spoore, Spoores, Spoors, Spor, Spore, Spores, Spors, Spur, Spurs

Translations

Every language

noun trail left by an animal — see also track, trail

Españolrastro
日本語臭跡 shūseki
Françaisfumée
DeutschFußspur

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{spoor_2026,
  title = {spoor},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/spoor},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}