spoonful

spoonful

English

Etymology

From Middle English sponeful, sponefull, sponful, spone-ful, equivalent to spoon +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspuːnfəl/, /ˈspuːnfʊl/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈspʌnfʊl/[1]

Noun

spoonful (plural spoonfuls or spoonsful)

1. The amount that a spoon will hold, either level or heaped.
   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     But Richmond […] appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw […] that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.

Derived terms

• a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

Related terms

• dessertspoonful
• saltspoonful
• soupspoonful
• tablespoonful
• teaspoonful

 

Translations

amount a spoon will hold

Arabic: ملء ملعقَة‎ Basque: koilarakada Bulgarian: лъжица f (lǎžica) Catalan: cullerada (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 一匙的量 (yī chí de liàng) Czech: lžíce (cs) f, lžička (cs) f Danish: skefuld (da) Dutch: lepel (nl), lepelvol Esperanto: ĉerpeto Estonian: lusikatäis Finnish: lusikallinen French: cuillerée (fr) f German: Löffelvoll m Greek: κουταλιά (el) f (koutaliá) Hungarian: kanálnyi Icelandic: skeið (is) f, skeiðarfylli f Ido: kulieredo (io) Irish: lán spúnóige m Italian: cucchiaiata (it) f, cucchiaio (it) m Japanese: スプーン一杯 (supūn-ippai) Korean: 숟가락 하나 가득 (sutgarak hana gadeuk) Lithuanian: šaukštas (lt) m Manx: lane spein m Norman: tchul'lée f (Jersey) Plautdietsch: Läpelvoll m Portuguese: colherada f Russian: ло́жка (ru) f (lóžka) Scottish Gaelic: làn na spàine m Spanish: cucharada (es) f Swedish: sked (sv) Vietnamese: một muổng

See also

• forkful
• knifeful

References

1. Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)‎, volume I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 4.37, page 125.