Etymograph

English

spall

Spall comes from Middle English spalle ‘a chip’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spalle1‘a chip’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1778spall1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English spall
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1778, William Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals: “Cobbed Ore is the ſpalled which is broke out…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spalleWiktionary, English spall‘a chip’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1778spallWiktionary, English spall. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1778, William Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals: “Cobbed Ore is the ſpalled which is broke out…”

The story

From Middle English spalle (‘a chip’) (first documented in 1440), of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Middle English spalle

Today it means

noun A splinter, fragment or chip, especially of stone.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spall”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English spalle / spall

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