Spike

How to spell spike

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce spike

What does spike mean?

1. nounA thin, sharp, pointed piece of metal or other hard material.
2. nounA sudden sharp increase in a value, level, or amount.
3. verbTo secretly add alcohol or another substance to food or a drink.

Spike in a sentence

• noun

  The workman hammered an iron spike into the wooden post.

• noun

  The report noted a sharp spike in energy prices over the winter.

• verb

  Someone tried to spike the punch at the office party.

• noun

  A single spike on the railing had torn his jacket.

• noun

  Website traffic showed a brief spike after the advert aired.

• verb

  She warned guests never to leave a glass unattended in case anyone tried to spike it.

Where does spike come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Spike comes into English from a Germanic source, and the early forms are closely tied to the Middle English 'spike' or 'spyke' meaning a large nail or sharp point. Scholars connect it to Old Norse 'spik' and the Middle Dutch 'spiker', words used for nails and pointed pieces of metal, which makes sense for a seafaring vocabulary of shipbuilding and joinery. The underlying idea throughout is a long, thin, hard, pointed thing, whether a nail driven into timber or a sharp ear of grain. From that literal sense English steadily grew figurative ones: a sudden sharp rise on a chart looks like a pointed peak, and to 'spike' a drink draws on the idea of driving something sharp and unexpected into it. The spelling is mercifully phonetic, with the silent final 'e' simply marking the long 'i' sound, so the only real care needed is not to double any letters.

How the word is built

• spike (single root, from Middle English; no productive affixes)