spae

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Scots spae.

Verb

spae (third-person singular simple present spaes, present participle spaeing, simple past and past participle spaed)

  1. (Scotland) To divine; foretell

Derived terms

Anagrams

Scots

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Northern Middle English spā, from Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spehōną (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål spå.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [spe]
  • (Insular Scots) IPA(key): [spoː]

Verb

spae (third-person singular simple present spaes, present participle spaein, simple past spaed, past participle spaed)

  1. to prophesy, foretell, predict, tell fortunes
  2. to anticipate, wish, have ambitions for

Derived terms

  • spae-craft (“the art of predicting the future”)
  • spaedom (“prophecy, fortunetelling”)
  • spae-folk (“sorcerers, wizards”)
  • spaeman (“fortuneteller, diviner, prophet”)
  • spaer (“fortuneteller, soothsayer”)
  • spae-trade (“the practice of fortune-telling, prophecy”)
  • spae-wark (“prognosticating, prophesying, soothsaying”)
  • spaewife (“female fortuneteller”)
  • spae-woman (“female fortuneteller”)
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