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span²

(spăn)

1. Nautical A stretch of rope made fast at either end.

2. A pair of animals, such as oxen, matched as in size or color and driven as a team.

[Dutch, from spannen, to harness, from Middle Dutch; see (s)pen- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

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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