# spawn
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /spɔːn/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /spɔn/
* (cot–caught merger) IPA: /spɑn/
* (Southern US) IPA: /spɑɒn/
* Rhymes: -ɔːn, Rhymes: -ɑn

### Etymology 1

Recorded since 1413; from Middle English spawnen, from Anglo-Norman espaundre, from Old French espandre, from Latin expandere (“stretch out; spread out”, verb). Doublet of expand. Compare also Middle English spalden, spolden, spawden (“to cut open (a fish)”).

#### Verb

spawn (third-person singular simple present spawns, present participle spawning, simple past and past participle spawned)
* (transitive) To produce or deposit (eggs) in water.
    A frog spawns thousands of tadpoles every year.
* (transitive) To generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers.
* (transitive) To bring forth in general.
    The web server spawns a new process to handle each client's request.
* (transitive) To induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn.
* (transitive) To plant with fungal spawn.
* (intransitive) To deposit (numerous) eggs in water.
** 2014 April 20, Richard Conniff, “An evolutionary family drama”, in The New York Times‎:Alewives are anadromous fish: Born in freshwater, they spend their lives in the ocean, returning annually to their birthplaces to spawn.
* (intransitive) To reproduce, especially in large numbers.
* (ergative, video games) To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, spontaneously in a game world at a particular place and time.
    Hyponym: respawn
    We put down torches to stop creepers from spawning.
* (ergative, figuratively, Internet slang) To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, unexpectedly and seemingly out of nowhere.
    Where did he come from? Bro just spawned in.
** 2022 April 21, @BibsCorner, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:Mavs fans really be spawning out of nowhere.
** 2022 May 24, @ambarlucid, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:So many virgos have spawned in my life lately
** 2023 March 10, u/beskardboard, “rule”, in Reddit‎, r/196, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:I swear a new vtuber with 250,000 subscribers and wildly transphobic views just spawns every other fucking week
** 2023 March 22, @pickuplinesonig, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:rizz so strong the bf just spawned out of nowhere
** 2023 July 9, @upblissed, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:bro jus spawns in when the word cuck is mentioned
** 2024 March 3, @swagmoneie, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:God spawning in a new streamer and fans for him every week:
** 2021 December 20, u/Nil4u, “Construction of a building starterpack.”, in Reddit‎, r/starterpacks, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:McDonalds skips the whole process and just spawns a new building somewhere
* (intransitive, figuratively, Internet slang, humorous) Of a person or non-egg-laying animal: to be born.
    That kid just spawned and looks like he's already done with life.
** 2021 April 16, u/crippl3r, “Life, the game!”, in Reddit‎, r/teenagers, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:I spawned in Turkey. I wasn't given an option on difficulty. It was automatically set on the hardest.
** 2023 March 15, u/The-Clumsy-Pirate, “This is OB, short for Orca Beaver for obvious reasons. Children's Tylenol 5ml smol syringe for comparisson.”, in Reddit‎, r/IllegallySmolCats, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:Oh he is entirely too smol! Just spawned and already running a drug ring!! ❤️
** 2024 January 11, @bassantaz, Twitter‎, archived from the original on 11 March 2024:dude literally just spawned and already gave up

##### Derived terms

* crotch spawn
* despawn
* respawn
* spawnable
* spawner
* spawn point
* spawny
* unspawned

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English spawne, from the verb (see above).

#### Noun

spawn (countable and uncountable, plural spawn or spawns)
* The numerous eggs of an aquatic organism.
* Mushroom mycelium prepared for (aided) propagation.
* Any germ or seed, even a figurative source.
** (often derogatory) Children; offspring.
    This dreadful idea is the spawn of a large business conglomerate.
** 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:Even the blithely unselfconscious Homer is more than a little freaked out by West’s private reverie, and encourages his spawn to move slowly away without making eye contact with the crazy man.
* (horticulture) The buds or branches produced from underground stems.
* (video games) Synonym of spawn point.

##### Derived terms

* frogspawn
* hellspawn
* mushroom spawn
* respawn
* spawn camp
* spawn camper
* spawn eater
* spawnkill

##### Translations
### Anagrams

* WPANs, pawns