Etymograph

English

spavin

Spavin comes from Old French espavain.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espavain1
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spavein1
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592spavin1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English spavin
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “[H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400espavainWiktionary, English spavin
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spaveinWiktionary, English spavin
  3. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592spavinWiktionary, English spavin. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “[H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and…”

The story

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.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Old French espavain

Today it means

noun 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.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spavin”. 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 / Old French espavain / spavin

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