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spade²

(spād)

1. Games

a. A black, leaf-shaped figure on certain playing cards.

b. A playing card with this figure.

c. also spades (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards represented by this figure.

2. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a black person.

Idiom:

in spades

To a considerable degree: They had financial trouble in spades.

[Italian spade, pl. of spada, card suit, from Latin spatha, sword, broad-bladed stirrer, from Greek spathē, broad blade.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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