speien

== German == === Alternative forms === speiben (Austria, Bavaria, chiefly informal) speuen (obsolete, still dialectal (Alemannic, Rhenish)) === Etymology === From Middle High German spīen, from older spīwen, from Old High German spīwan, from Proto-West Germanic *spīwan, from Proto-Germanic *spīwaną. Compare Dutch spuwen, spugen, English spew, Danish spy. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈʃpaɪ̯ən/ Hyphenation: spei‧en === Verb === speien (class 1 strong, third-person singular present speit, past tense spie, past participle gespien, auxiliary haben) (higher register) to spit Synonym: spucken (formerly euphemistic) to vomit Synonyms: sich übergeben, brechen, erbrechen, kotzen; (euphemistic) spucken, wieder von sich geben, nicht bei sich behalten ==== Usage notes ==== At least in northern and central Germany, the word no longer appears in normal, stylistically unmarked parlance except in a few specific contexts. For example: Der Drache speit Feuer. ― The dragon spews / breathes fire. Der Löwenkopf speit Wasser. ― The lion’s head spouts water [at a public fountain]. ==== Conjugation ==== The forms spien, gespien are usually pronounced with [iːən], while spie, spiest, spiet have [iː] as preterites, but [iːə] as subjunctives. Formerly common spellings such as spiee, gespieen are contrary to the rule (cf. Partien) and have been nonstandard since 1996. ==== Related terms ==== Wasserspeier Speispinne === Further reading === “speien”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎[2] (in German) “speien” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “speien” in Duden online “speien” in OpenThesaurus.de