spavin
A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet,…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.
Meaning
4 senses(countable)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.
(uncountable)A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1).
(broadly, uncountable)A similar disease causing a person's leg to be lame.
Spat
(rare, transitive)The stratum of earth underneath a coal deposit.
- a swelling of the hock joint of a horse; resulting in lameness
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causinThe 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.
Origin unknown.
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Forms
plural: spavinsWord family
5 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable