spait

== Middle Scots == === Etymology === Etymology uncertain; possibly related to English spatter and Dutch spatten (“to spatter, splash”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sp(y)ēw, *spyū (whence English spit (“to evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.”)), which is imitative of spitting. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /spɛːt/ === Noun === spait (archaic) spate === References === === Further reading === John Jamieson (1825), “SPAIT”, in Supplement to the Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language: […], volumes II (K–Z), Edinburgh: […] University Press; for W[illiam] & C[harles] Tait, […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, page 452, column 1.