English
spawner
From spawn + -er.
A compound of spawn + -er
Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- ‘to spread out’
…
Latin expandō ‘stretch out’
Old French espandre
Anglo-Norman espaundre
Middle English spawnen
English spawn
Today it means
noun A female fish, often specifically a salmon, which is physiologically ready to spawn
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “spawner”. 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 / spawner