Etymograph

English

spill

Spill comes from Middle English spillen ‘to demolish, liquidate, or ruin’, from Old English spillan ‘to kill, destroy, waste’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-1‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spilþijaną1‘to spoil, kill, murder’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spilþijan1‘to spoil, ruin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spillan1‘to kill, destroy, waste’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spillen1‘to demolish, liquidate, or ruin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1387–1400spill1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English spill
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Man of Lawes Tale: “That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pel-Wiktionary, English spill‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*spilþijanąWiktionary, English spill‘to spoil, kill, murder’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*spilþijanWiktionary, English spill‘to spoil, ruin’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150spillanWiktionary, English spill‘to kill, destroy, waste’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500spillenWiktionary, English spill‘to demolish, liquidate, or ruin’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1387–1400spillWiktionary, English spill. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Man of Lawes Tale: “That thou wilt suffer innocence to spill.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- ‘to sunder, split, rend, tear’

spell, spoil, spool, 11 more

Today it means

verb To drop something so that it spreads out or makes a mess; to accidentally pour.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “spill”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *(s)pel- / spill

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