spitting image

English

Etymology

Alteration of earlier spitten image (see spitten). A popular folk etymology explains this phrase as deriving from the idea of a father spitting out a child whole from his mouth, as if giving birth.[1] But spitten image actually developed from spit and image, where spit in this context means “likeness”.[2] Terban further suggests a derivation of this sense of spit from the word spirit, but evidence for this is lacking. Another theory is that the idiom is Biblical, after an image of God spitting into dry earth to make the clay out of which Adam would be formed.[3]

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspɪtɪŋ ˈɪmɪdʒ/

Noun

spitting image (plural spitting images)

(colloquial) The exact likeness (of someone).
You're the spitting image of my brother.

Hypernyms

image (structurally)

Translations

the exact likeness of someone

Catalan: estampa (ca) f, retrat (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 一模一样 (zh) (yīmóyīyàng), 活像 (zh) (huóxiàng)
Czech: být jako by z oka vypadl
Dutch: (ze lijken als) twee druppels water
Finnish: aivan samannäköinen kuin (adjective), ilmetty (fi) (adjective)
French: portrait craché (fr) m
Galician: cuspido m
German: Ebenbild (de) n
Hungarian: kiköpött mása
Indonesian: seperti pinang dibelah dua
Italian: spaccato (it) m, tale e quale
Japanese: そっくり (ja) (sokkuri), クリソツ (kurisotsu)
Polish: sobowtór (pl) m, podobny jak dwie krople wody, (adjective) wykapany (pl)
Portuguese: cuspido e escarrado (pt) m
Russian: (adjective) вы́литый (ru) (výlityj), вы́литый портре́т m (výlityj portrét), то́чная ко́пия f (tóčnaja kópija)
Scottish Gaelic: cho coltach ri
Slovene: izrezana podoba
Spanish: el vivo retrato m or f, la viva imagen, la viva estampa
Ukrainian: (adjective) викапаний (vykapanyj)

References

“spitting image”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
Terban, Marvin (1996, 2006), “Spitting Image”, in Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms, first edition, New York: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 179
Garner, Bryan A. (2016), “spitting image”, in Garner's Modern English Usage, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 853

[1] “spitting image”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

[2] Terban, Marvin (1996, 2006), “Spitting Image”, in Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms, first edition, New York: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 179

[3] Garner, Bryan A. (2016), “spitting image”, in Garner's Modern English Usage, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 853