What does spade mean?
A spade is a tool with a strong, broad, usually slightly curved blade attached to a handle, used for digging holes, loosening soil, and moving earth or sand. It is similar to a shovel, although a spade is generally regarded as the more precise digging implement, while a shovel is especially suited to scooping and transporting loose material. In another familiar sense, a spade is one of the four suits in a pack of playing cards; the ace of spades is the best-known individual card, and references to “the spades” can mean the black suit as a whole. The word can also be used as a verb, especially in older or literary English, meaning to dig or remove something with a spade. Though the tool sense is now its dominant everyday meaning, the card and suit senses remain firmly established.
A long-handled tool with a broad, flat blade used for digging. By extension, it may also denote one of the four playing-card suits or a card of that suit.
"She leaned the spade against the side of the shed."
When referring to the suit, the plural can name the cards collectively, as in “the player was dealt three spades.”
To dig or remove soil or another material with a spade.
"They spaded the garden beds before sowing the seeds."
This verb is uncommon in modern everyday speech and sounds literary or archaic.
The plural refers to multiple spades as tools or to cards belonging to the spade suit; it can also mean the suit collectively.
"He turned up a pair of spades and discarded one of them."
The spade is both a practical digging tool and one of the four familiar suits in a pack of cards.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does spade come from?
The English word comes from Old English spade, the name of a digging implement. It belongs to a Germanic word family that included forms such as Old Norse spaði and Old High German spado, while the modern German Spaten continues a related development. English spatula and spatulate came into the language through Latin and Greek forms associated with a blade or broad utensil.
Related word forms
How spade is actually used
In its tool sense, “spade” is standard in British and American English. The noun can refer to an individual card or to the suit as a whole, as in “a hand with too many spades.” The verb is now uncommon and literary or archaic in ordinary use.
Easily confused with spade
A shovel has a broader, usually curved blade and is intended for scooping and moving loose material, while a spade typically has a flatter, narrower blade designed primarily for digging.