Does anyone know where the phrase 39spik and span39 comes from

Does anyone know where the phrase 'spik and span' comes from?

as in 'I want everything spik and span'

Other Answers:

Spik and Span-

The noun spick has various meanings, or rather it had various meanings, as it is now rarely used outside of spick and span. These include: a side of bacon, a floret of lavender, a nail or spike, a thatching spar.

Likewise span has/had several meanings, including: the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, a measure of butter, a fetter or chain, a chip of wood (as the Norse word spann-nyr).

Just from those meanings, and there are more, we could generate sixteen possible combinations to form spick and span. It isn't clear which, if any, of those words were used when coining the phrase. Some clue might come from the fact that the phrase is very old and was originally spick and span-new


The alliteration in the phrase suggests the possibility that that one of the two words alluded to cleanliness and freshness and that the other just followed along. Which one is most associated with the qualities of spick and span? The suggestions most frequently made are that spick is a variant of spike or nail. In the 16th century nails were made of iron and soon tarnished. It is quite plausible that new nails would have become synonymous with cleanliness. We have the phrase as neat as a new pin, which has just that meaning. The old Dutch word spikspeldernieuw refers to newly made ships. The OED suggests that this is the origin of spick, although they offer no reason for that belief and none of the early citations of the phrase refer to shipping. As for span, chips of wood also display the same fresh, sharp-edged qualities and seem to be a plausible source for the use of the word here.

Many American readers will know **** and Span as the cleaning product marketed by Prestige Brands Inc. This has the strapline 'The Complete Home Cleaner', so, next time you want to clean a complete home you know what to use.

1665, from spick-and-span-new (1579), lit. "new as a recently made spike and chip of wood," from spick "nail" (see spike (n.1)) + span-new "very new" (c.1300), from O.N. span-nyr, from spann "chip" + nyr "new." Imitation of Du. spiksplinter nieuw "spike-splinter new."

The best I could do.

TV commercial

Girly mags from long ago.