spawn en · VERB · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /spɔn/ (General-American)
- /spɔːn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /spɑn/ (cot-caught-merger)
Etymology
Recorded since 1413; from Middle English spawnen, from Anglo-Norman espaundre, from Old French espandre, from Latin expandere (“stretch out; spread out”, verb). Doublet of expand. Compare also Middle English spalden, spolden, spawden (“to cut open (a fish)”).
Meanings
-
(transitive) To produce or deposit (eggs) in water.
A frog spawns thousands of tadpoles every year.
- (transitive) To generate, bring into being, especially nonmammalian beings in very large numbers.
-
(transitive) To bring forth in general.
Weather Underground, a covert organization that spawned countless other would-be revolutionary cadres - the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), the Black Liberation Army, the May 19 Communist Organization each of which
2005, McSweeney's Pub., LLC (publisher), The Believer, volume 3, numbers 1-5, page 26:The web server spawns a new process to handle each client's request.
- (transitive) To induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn.
- (transitive) To plant with fungal spawn.
-
(intransitive) To deposit (numerous) eggs in water.
Alewives are anadromous fish: Born in freshwater, they spend their lives in the ocean, returning annually to their birthplaces to spawn.
2014 April 20, Richard Conniff, “An evolutionary family drama”, in The New York Times:
- (intransitive) To reproduce, especially in large numbers.
-
(ergative) To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, spontaneously in a game world at a particular place and time.
We put down torches to stop creepers from spawning.
-
(Internet, ergative, figuratively) To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, unexpectedly and seemingly out of nowhere.
So many virgos have spawned in my life lately
2022 May 24, @ambarlucid, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:rizz so strong the bf just spawned out of nowhere
2023 March 22, @pickuplinesonig, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:I swear a new vtuber with 250,000 subscribers and wildly transphobic views just spawns every other fucking week
2023 March 10, u/beskardboard, “rule”, in Reddit, r/196, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:McDonalds skips the whole process and just spawns a new building somewhere
2021 December 20, u/Nil4u, “Construction of a building starterpack.”, in Reddit, r/starterpacks, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:Mavs fans really be spawning out of nowhere.
2022 April 21, @BibsCorner, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:Where did he come from? Bro just spawned in.
God spawning in a new streamer and fans for him every week:
2024 March 3, @swagmoneie, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:bro jus spawns in when the word cuck is mentioned
2023 July 9, @upblissed, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
-
(Internet, figuratively, humorous, intransitive) Of a person or non-egglaying animal: to be born.
dude literally just spawned and already gave up
2024 January 11, @bassantaz, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:Oh he is entirely too smol! Just spawned and already running a drug ring!! ❤️
2023 March 15, u/The-Clumsy-Pirate, “This is OB, short for Orca Beaver for obvious reasons. Children's Tylenol 5ml smol syringe for comparisson.”, in Reddit, r/IllegallySmolCats, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:That kid just spawned and looks like he's already done with life.
I spawned in Turkey. I wasn't given an option on difficulty. It was automatically set on the hardest.
2021 April 16, u/crippl3r, “Life, the game!”, in Reddit, r/teenagers, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| spawning | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| spawns | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| spawned | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| spawned | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Deriveds
spawner · unspawned · despawn · spawny · respawn · spawnable
Hyponyms
Translations (104)
bg плодя се (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · tr spawn etmek (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · it spawnare (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · mk со́здаде (to bring forth in general) · fi kasvattaa (to bring forth in general) · la pariō (to bring forth in general) · ru мета́ть (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · fr apparaître (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · ru заспавниться (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · ru появиться (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · fi lisätä (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · de erscheinen (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · tr spawn olmak (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · gd cladh (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · tr oluşturmak (to bring forth in general) · ru нерести́ться (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · tr spawnlamak (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · nl kuitschieten (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · tr yumurtlamak (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · is gjóta (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · fi ilmestyä (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · de erzeugen (to bring forth in general) · cs stvořit (to bring forth in general) · fi siitä (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · fi lisääntyä (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · lv nārstot (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · pl mnożyć się (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · de erzeugen (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · fr frayer (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · tr doğmak (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · hu ívik (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · cs dát vzniknout (to bring forth in general) · es frezar (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · tl mamayabat (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · ru плоди́ться (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · fi spawnata (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · hu petéket rak (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · fi syntyä (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · es frezar (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · lv nārstot (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · izh kuttiissa (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · kix chéu (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · de ablaichen (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · gd cladh (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · nl paaien (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · de laichen (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · ro spawna (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · bg хвърлям хайвер (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · gd cladh (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · pl zespawnować się (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · es spawnear (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · tr ortaya çıkmak (to bring forth in general) · it generare (to bring forth in general) · fr poper (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · cs klást jikry (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · de spawnen (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · fi kutea (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · fi istuttaa (to plant with fungal spawn) · es engendrarse (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · es desovar (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · ja 産卵する (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · de (sich wie Karnickel) sich vermehren (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · tr spawnlanmak (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · az çoxalmaq (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · pt gerar (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · tr meydana getirmek (to bring forth in general) · lb läichen (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · cmn 生成 (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · pt desovar (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · da gyde (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · mk се мре́сти (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · fi synnyttää (to bring forth in general) · it deporre le uova (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · nl paaien (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · id memijah (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · fi kutea (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · pl pojawić się (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · cs třít se (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · es engendrar (to bring forth in general) · mk се по́јави (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · bg размножавам се (to reproduce, especially in large numbers) · it dare alla luce (to bring forth in general) · bg пораждам (to bring forth in general) · fi lisätä (to bring forth in general) · pt gerar (to bring forth in general) · zh 產卵 /产卵 (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · pl ikrzyć się (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · tr yumurtlamak (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · pl trzeć się (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · id muncul (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · es desovar (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · fr engendrer (to bring forth in general) · de laichen (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · ru порожда́ть (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · tr durmadan doğurmak (to deposit (numerous) eggs in water) · es aparecer (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · tr yumurtlamak (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · fa تخمریزی (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · ca fresar (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water) · pt spawnar (to appear spontaneously in a game at a certain point and time) · fr engendrer (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · de hervorbringen (to generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers) · fi kudettaa (to induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn) · id memijahkan (to produce or deposit (eggs) in water)