spade
spade
Pronunciation
Here's a breakdown of the word "spade."
Phonetic Spelling
The IPA phonetic spelling for spade is /speɪd/.
It is a single-syllable word. Here is a breakdown of its sounds:
/s/: The "s" sound, as in "sun."
/p/: The "p" sound, as in "pot."
/eɪ/: The long "a" sound, as in "gray" or "weigh."
/d/: The "d" sound, as in "dog."
Word Form Variations
Noun (singular): spade
Noun (plural): spades
Verb (base): spade
Verb (third-person singular): spades
Verb (past tense): spaded
Verb (past participle): spaded
Verb (present participle): spading
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Noun
A tool used for digging, consisting of a flat, sharp-edged metal blade attached to a long handle.
Synonyms: shovel, trowel, digger
(plural: spades) One of the four suits in a standard deck of playing cards, represented by a black, leaf-shaped symbol. ♠️
Synonyms: (no direct synonyms, but a related term is "suit")
(Offensive, Slang) An outdated and derogatory slur for a Black person.
Verb
To dig, lift, or turn over soil using a spade.
Synonyms: dig, shovel, excavate, delve
Antonyms: fill, cover, bury
Examples of Use
In Books and Literature
As a digging tool: "He took the spade from his father and began to dig the hard earth..."
As a playing card (classic): "Hermann... became obsessed with obtaining the secret. The countess (now 87 years old) has a young ward... [He] murders her for the secret, then finds himself haunted by the woman's spirit." (referring to the plot of Alexander Pushkin's 1834 novella, The Queen of Spades).
As an idiom: "He had the populist's gift for calling a spade a spade... He did not need a poll to tell him what the public thought." (Robert Caro, The Path to Power)
In Newspapers and Online Publications
As a digging tool: "Whether you are turning over last year's garden or adding fresh compost, a garden spade, with its flat, sharp edge and vertical angle, is perfect for digging evenly and thoroughly..." (Easy Digging, "Five important uses of a Garden Spade")
As a verb (spading): "One of the most common jobs a spade is best for is turning the soil. When you use a spade this way it is... called spading." (Easy Digging, "Five important uses of a Garden Spade")
As an idiom: "It's okay to call a spade a spade – to speak plainly – but remember to remain civil, and to stay focused on improving the encyclopedia." (Wikipedia, "Wikipedia:Call a spade a spade")
In Entertainment and Pop Culture
As a playing card (music): "If you like to gamble, I tell you I'm your man / You win some, lose some, it's all the same to me / The only card I need is the Ace of Spades / The Ace of Spades" (Motörhead, "Ace of Spades" [song lyric])
As a playing card (film): In the 1994 film Maverick, the protagonist, Bret Maverick, famously "magically" draws the ace of spades to complete a royal flush and win the final poker tournament.
As a card game (television): In the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the game of spades is a recurring activity and cultural touchstone for the Banks family, particularly in the season 2 episode "The Butler Did It."
In General Public Discourse
As a card game: "Many of us grew up playing Spades. But very little information exists on how the card game developed and grew to become a fixture in African-American households." (The Pudding, "How you play Spades is how you play life," August 2021)
As a phrase ("in spades"): "We were hoping for a little sunshine on our vacation, and we got it in spades." (Common public expression meaning "in large amounts" or "to a great degree").
10 Famous Quotes Using Spade
"The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one." (Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
"Scepter and crown must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade." (James Shirley, "Death the Leveller")
"I call a spade a spade." (Menander)
"All my hurts my garden spade can heal." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
"The Macedonians... had not the witte to calle a spade by any other name than a spade." (Nicolas Udall, 1542 translation of Erasmus)
"The only card I need is the Ace of Spades." (Motörhead, "Ace of Spades")
"Better to go and watch a man digging, and then take a spade and try to do it." (Gertrude Jekyll)
"I call a spade a spade... I am blunt." (Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy)
"At every performance I'd have to take off my gloves to prove I was a spade." (Ethel Waters)
"Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady." (Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind)
Etymology
1. Spade (The Digging Tool)
This is the original English version of the word.
First Use & Meaning: Its first known use is in Old English, before the year 900, as the word spadu (or spada). It has meant the exact same thing for over a thousand years: a digging tool with a flat blade.
The Origin: It's a "Germanic" word, meaning it shares a root with other languages in that family. It is closely related to the modern German word Spaten and the Dutch word spade, which all mean "spade." All these words are believed to come from an ancient Proto-Indo-European root word meaning "a long, flat piece of wood," which is likely what the first spades were made of.
In short: This word is a true, native English word that has always meant "a digging tool."
2. Spade (The Card Suit ♠️)
This is where it gets interesting. This word is not English; it was borrowed from Italian.
First Use & Meaning: This use of "spade" entered English in the 1590s. It comes from the Italian word spade, which is the plural of the word spada, meaning "sword."
The Origin: So, why is a card suit named after a sword?
Early Italian and Spanish playing cards didn't have spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. Their four suits were swords (spade), cups (coppe), coins (denari), and clubs (which looked like actual wooden clubs or batons, bastoni).
When the French redesigned the deck, they created the symbols we use today (♠, ♥, ♦, ♣).
The French symbol ♠ (the black leaf shape) was created to replace the Italian suit of swords.
Even though the picture changed from a sword to a leaf shape, the English kept the original Italian name for that suit: spade.
In short: When you see a ♠️, you are calling it by its old Italian name, "sword."
A Note on the Idiom "To Call a Spade a Spade"
Funnily enough, this popular phrase (which refers to the tool, not the card) was the result of a famous historical mix-up.
An ancient Greek writer wrote a common phrase that meant "to call a fig a fig, and a trough a trough." The Greek word for "trough" (a-U-shaped bin) was skaphe.
A famous 16th-century scholar, Erasmus, mistranslated this text. He confused the Greek word for "trough" (skaphe) with a similar-sounding Greek word for a "digging tool" (skapheion).
He translated the phrase into Latin as "to call a spade a spade."
His translation was so popular that the mistake became the new, permanent idiom in English and other languages.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Spade
call a spade a spade: To speak plainly, bluntly, and honestly, even if the topic is unpleasant.
in spades: In large amounts; to a great degree; in abundance.
black as the ace of spades: Extremely black; completely dark, or used to describe something as the darkest possible.
(do the) spadework: To do the initial, difficult, or tedious preparatory work for a project.
bucket and spade: A British phrase referring to children's beach toys and, by extension, a simple seaside holiday.
the ace of spades: Often used to symbolize the highest card or, conversely, as an omen of death.
the queen of spades: A term often associated with mystery, bad luck, or a formidable woman, largely due to the Pushkin story.
lay it on with a spade: A less common variation of "lay it on with a trowel," meaning to apply flattery or praise excessively and insincerely.
dig one's own grave (with a spade/shovel): To do something foolish that leads to one's own downfall.
digging for dirt (with a spade): A phrase for actively searching for scandalous or damaging information about someone.
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of spade from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
