Spread

How to spell spread

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce spread

What does spread mean?

1. verbTo open out, extend over a surface, or distribute something across a wider area.
2. nounA soft food product applied in a layer to bread or crackers, or a generous array of dishes laid out for a meal.
3. nounThe full extent or range between the lowest and highest values of something.

Spread in a sentence

• verb

  Workers will spread the gravel evenly across the new driveway.

• noun

  The low-fat spread tastes almost identical to real butter.

• noun

  The survey showed a wide spread of opinions on the new policy.

• verb

  Rumours about the merger began to spread through the office.

• noun

  The family put out an impressive spread for the holiday dinner.

• noun

  Traders watched the spread between the buying and selling prices.

Where does spread come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Spread comes from the Old English verb sprǣdan, meaning 'to stretch out, extend, or open wide', and it belongs to a broad family of related Germanic words, including the Dutch spreiden and the German spreiten, all carrying the same sense of opening something flat. The deeper root is thought to trace back to a Proto-Germanic form meaning 'to scatter or strew', which links it loosely to words about sprinkling and dispersing. By the Middle English period it had settled into its familiar shape and meaning, covering everything from laying out cloth to scattering news. The 'ea' in the modern spelling reflects an older long vowel that has since shortened, which is why it now rhymes with 'bed' rather than 'bead'; that mismatch between spelling and sound is the main thing to watch. The noun sense, such as a spread of food or a two-page spread in a magazine, grew naturally out of the verb's idea of something laid out across a surface.

How the word is built

• spread (single root from Old English sprǣdan: to stretch out, extend)