span
The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.
Noun 4 meanings
The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.
Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.
A small space or a brief portion of time.
“He has a short attention span and gets bored within minutes.”
A portion of something by length; a subsequence.
Verb 4 meanings
To extend across (a gap or space between two sides).
“The suspension bridge spanned the canyon.”
To cover or extend over (an area or distance).
“The parking lot spans three acres.”
To extend through (a period of time).
“The novel spans three centuries.”
To measure by the span of the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object.
“to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder”
Etymology
From Middle English spanne, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spannō (“span, handbreadth”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”). Cognate with Dutch span, spanne, German Spanne.
SPAN at a glance
SPAN has 4 letters and scores 6 points in Scrabble (S 1 + P 3 + A 1 + N 1) and 8 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #6,315 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with span
All rhymes- JAPAN14
- LIFESPAN13
- SAUCEPAN12
- WINGSPAN14
- DEADPAN11
- MARZIPAN21
- TAIPAN8
- DUSTPAN10
- SAMPAN10
- BEDPAN11
- KIRPAN12
- HARDPAN13
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