English

Alternative forms

• spelled (US)

Verb

spelt

1. (chiefly Britain) simple past tense and past participle of spell
   • 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, v 1

     Yes, yes; he teaches boys the hornbook. What is a, b, spelt / backward with the horn on his head?

Usage notes

The form spelt may predominate over spelled in parts of North America with heavier English settlement since the 19th century. One such place is New England and much of Canada, particularly in Atlantic Canada.

Etymology 2

From Middle English, from Old English spelt ‎(“spelt, corn”), from Old Saxon spelta ‎(“spelt”); or from Late Latin spelta ‎(“spelt”), from Frankish *spelta ‎(“spelt”); all from Proto-Germanic *spiltō, *spiltaz ‎(“spelt”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pelbʰ-, *(s)pelbʰ-t- ‎(“spelt, spelt meal”). Cognate with Old High German spelza ‎(“spelt”), Modern German Spelz ‎(“wheat-like cereal”), Dutch spelt ‎(“spelt”).

Noun

spelt ‎(uncountable)

1. A grain, considered either a subspecies of wheat, Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta, or a separate species Triticum spelta.

Synonyms

• (grain): dinkel wheat, hulled wheat

See also

• spelt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• emmer
• farro

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle High German spalden, or Old Norse spald.

Noun

spelt ‎(plural spelts)

1. (dialect, Northern England, Scotland) A thin piece of wood or metal; a splinter.
2. (metalworking) spelter

Verb

spelt ‎(third-person singular simple present spelts, present participle spelting, simple past and past participle spelted)

1. (obsolete) To split; to break; to spalt.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Mortimer to this entry?)

Anagrams

• pelts, slept

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German spelte.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɛlt/, [sb̥ɛlˀd̥]

Noun

spelt c (singular definite spelten, not used in plural form)

1. spelt (a type of wheat, Triticum spelta)}

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

spelt n ‎(uncountable)

1. spelt (grain)

Verb

spelt

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of spellen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of spellen

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

spelt

1. indefinite singular past participle of spela and spele