spå

See also: SPA, spa, Spa, Spaa, SpA, spA, spá, śpa, and spáa

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse spá, from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, cognate with Norwegian, Swedish spå. A variant of *spehōną, which is the source of German spähen (“to spy”) (and, via French, English spy).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɔːˀ/, [ˈsb̥ɔˀ]

Verb

spå (past tense spåede, past participle spået)

1. to predict, forecast, foretell, prophesy

Conjugation

Inflection of spå

	present	past
simple	spår	spåede
perfect	har spået	havde spået
passive	spås	spåedes
participle	spående	spået
imperative	spå	—
infinitive	spå	—
auxiliary verb	have	—
gerund	spåen	—

Derived terms

• spådom
• spåkone
• spåkvinde
• spåmand
• spåpræst

References

• “spå” in Den Danske Ordbog

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse spá.

Verb

spå (imperative spå, present tense spår, passive spås, simple past spådde, past participle spådd, present participle spående)

1. to predict, forecast, foretell, prophesy

Related terms

• spådom

References

• “spå” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse spá, from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spēhōną. Related to Latin specere (“to see”).

Verb

spå (present tense spår, past tense spådde, past participle spådd or spått, passive infinitive spåast, present participle spåande, imperative spå)

1. to predict, forecast, foretell, prophesy
2. to warn, bode
3. to assume

References

• “spå” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse spá (“to foretell, prophesy”), from Proto-Germanic *spahōną, *spēhōną (“to observe”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spoː/
• Rhymes: -oː

Verb

spå (present spår, preterite spådde, supine spått, imperative spå)

1. to foretell, to divine; to tell the future and fortune through supernatural means
2. (by extension) to predict, to (more or less confidently) guess

   Jag spår att det kommer regna imorgon

   I predict it's going to rain tomorrow

   Hon spåddes en lysande karriär

   She was predicated to have a stellar career

Conjugation

Conjugation of spå (weak)

	Active		Passive
Infinitive	spå		spås
Supine	spått		spåtts
Imperative	spå		—
Imper. plural1	spån		—
	Present	Past	Present	Past
Indicative	spår	spådde	spås	spåddes
Ind. plural1	spå	spådde	spås	spåddes
Subjunctive2	spå	spådde	spås	spåddes
	Participles
Present participle	spående
Past participle	spådd
1 Archaic. 2 Dated. See the appendix on Swedish verbs.

Synonyms

• (foretell): sia

Related terms

• (foretell): spådom, spåkunnig, spåkvinna, spåman