Sparks

How to spell sparks

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce sparks

What does sparks mean?

1. nounSmall glowing or fiery particles thrown off by burning material, friction, or electrical discharge.
2. verbTriggers, sets off, or stirs up something such as interest, debate, or activity.

Sparks in a sentence

• noun

  The grinder threw bright sparks across the workshop floor.

• verb

  A single comment from the manager often sparks a long debate.

• noun

  Sparks from the campfire drifted up into the night sky.

• verb

  The new pricing policy sparks widespread complaints from customers.

Where does sparks come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English noun spearca, which named a small glowing or fiery particle thrown off by burning or struck metal. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with close relatives in the older Dutch and Low German words for the same flickering fleck of fire, all tracing back to a root suggesting something scattered or flung out. From the literal fiery sense English developed the figurative one as early as the medieval period, so that a 'spark' could mean a tiny trace of a feeling or the first stir of an idea, and the verb sense of igniting or triggering something followed naturally. The plural and third-person form simply adds the regular -s ending, which is why the cluster -rks at the end is the only real spelling point. In British workplace slang the word also became an affectionate nickname for an electrician, a playful nod to the literal showers of light that electrical work can produce.

How the word is built

• spark (from Old English spearca: a glowing particle)
• -s (plural noun / third-person verb ending)