Spoonfuls

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A measure of volume equivalent to the amount contained in a spoon, frequently utilized in culinary measurements and recipes
2. A quantity denoting the contents that a spoon can accommodate, often employed in cooking instructions
3. The quantity of a substance that fits within a single spoon, often used to estimate ingredients or doses

Etymology: "Spoonfuls" is simply the plural of "spoonful," and the plural form is the one that matters here, since the word is nearly always counted in units. The noun "spoonful" was built in Middle English from "spoon" and the suffix "-ful," which means "as much as will fill" the thing named before it, so a spoonful is literally the amount a spoon will hold. The Middle English spellings varied widely, appearing as "sponeful," "sponefull," and "sponful," reflecting the older form "spone" that "spoon" once took. The suffix "-ful" is the same one found in "handful" and "cupful," and it has been productive in English for centuries. Its pattern is clear: a container-word plus "-ful" gives a measure of its contents, which is why a recipe can call for "two spoonfuls" without anyone needing a standard spoon size.

Synonyms: scoops