Spawn

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /spɔːn/

Definitions

1. To produce offspring in large numbers, especially by aquatic animals releasing eggs into water
2. To give rise to a large number of offspring, often associated with aquatic species releasing eggs or sperm into a water body for reproduction
3. To generate many young creatures, particularly when aquatic life releases gametes into a body of water for reproduction

Etymology: Fish eggs and new life share a surprising ancestor with the word "expand." In Latin, "expandere" meant "to stretch out" or "spread out," and it passed through Old French "espandre" and Anglo-Norman "espaundre" before arriving in Middle English as "spawnen." The sense of spreading, scattering or sowing seed carried over into the idea of releasing eggs or young in great numbers, which is why a frog or a salmon is said to spawn. The word is recorded in English from 1413. Its doublet, "expand," came into English directly from Latin, so the two words are cousins that took different routes into the language: one through French and the other straight from the classical source. The noun "spawn" developed from the verb, and it has since been applied to mass-produced or mass-generated things, such as a flood of imitators or a large number of offspring.

Synonyms: generate, produce, create, engender, beget

Antonyms: destroy, annihilate, terminate, eradicate, eliminate