spawn
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /spɔːn/
ipa: /spɔn/
ipa: /spɑn/
ipa: /spɑɒn/
rhymes: -ɔːn
rhymes: Rhymes: -ɑn
Forms: form: spawns
form: spawning
form: spawned
form: spawned
Etymology: 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)”).
Senses: examples: text: A frog spawns thousands of tadpoles every year.
glosses: To produce or deposit (eggs) in water.
glosses: To generate, bring into being, especially non-mammalian beings in very large numbers.
examples: text: The web server spawns a new process to handle each client's request.
glosses: To bring forth in general.
glosses: To induce (aquatic organisms) to spawn.
glosses: To plant with fungal spawn.
examples: text: Alewives are anadromous fish: Born in freshwater, they spend their lives in the ocean, returning annually to their birthplaces to spawn.
ref: 2014 April 20, Richard Conniff, “An evolutionary family drama”, in The New York Times:
glosses: To deposit (numerous) eggs in water.
glosses: To reproduce, especially in large numbers.
examples: text: We put down torches to stop creepers from spawning.
topics: video-games
hyponyms: respawn
glosses: To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, spontaneously in a game world at a particular place and time.
examples: text: Where did he come from? Bro just spawned in.
text: Mavs fans really be spawning out of nowhere.
ref: 2022 April 21, @BibsCorner, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: So many virgos have spawned in my life lately
ref: 2022 May 24, @ambarlucid, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: I swear a new vtuber with 250,000 subscribers and wildly transphobic views just spawns every other fucking week
ref: 2023 March 10, u/beskardboard, “rule”, in Reddit, r/196, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: rizz so strong the bf just spawned out of nowhere
ref: 2023 March 22, @pickuplinesonig, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: bro jus spawns in when the word cuck is mentioned
ref: 2023 July 9, @upblissed, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: God spawning in a new streamer and fans for him every week:
ref: 2024 March 3, @swagmoneie, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: McDonalds skips the whole process and just spawns a new building somewhere
ref: 2021 December 20, u/Nil4u, “Construction of a building starterpack.”, in Reddit, r/starterpacks, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
glosses: To appear, or cause (something or someone) to appear, unexpectedly and seemingly out of nowhere.
examples: text: That kid just spawned and looks like he's already done with life.
text: I spawned in Turkey. I wasn't given an option on difficulty. It was automatically set on the hardest.
ref: 2021 April 16, u/crippl3r, “Life, the game!”, in Reddit, r/teenagers, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
text: Oh he is entirely too smol! Just spawned and already running a drug ring!! ❤️
ref: 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 Mar 2024:
text: dude literally just spawned and already gave up
ref: 2024 January 11, @bassantaz, Twitter, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2024:
glosses: Of a person or non-egg-laying animal: to be born.
Derived terms: crotch spawn
despawn
respawn
spawnable
spawner
spawn point
spawny
unspawned