"-splain" meaning in English

See -splain in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Suffix

Etymology: From splain, itself from explain, following the pattern of mansplain. Etymology templates: {{m|en|splain}} splain, {{m|en|explain}} explain, {{m|en|mansplain}} mansplain Head templates: {{head|en|suffix|cat2=|cat3=|head=|id=}} -splain, {{en-suffix}} -splain
  1. (slang) A suffix combined with a descriptive adjective or noun to create a verb meaning someone who fits that description condescendingly explaining something to someone who does not fit that description (especially, something the listener has more experience of). Tags: morpheme, slang
    Sense id: en--splain-en-suffix-KQlL8Qxz Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header

Download JSON data for -splain meaning in English (2.6kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "splain"
      },
      "expansion": "splain",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "explain"
      },
      "expansion": "explain",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mansplain"
      },
      "expansion": "mansplain",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From splain, itself from explain, following the pattern of mansplain.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "suffix",
        "cat2": "",
        "cat3": "",
        "head": "",
        "id": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-splain",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "-splain",
      "name": "en-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 December 22, Bunnika, “For reblogging: No crip has to be nice to ableists”, in Cumulative notes for the Zōon Politikon, retrieved 2014-04-27",
          "text": "So please, don’t ablesplain to me. Especially when you have no idea about the context of what bigotry you’re trying to justify.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 January 15, Dan O'Connor, “Dan Callahan Thinsplains Obesity”, in Berman Institute Bioethics Bulletin, retrieved 2013-04-28",
          "text": "You see, thinsplains Callahan, because nothing else seems to be working, we must turn to making obese people feel bad about themselves in order to shed the pounds.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 14, Katy Waldman, “Princeton Mom's One Saving Grace”, The XX Factor, in Slate",
          "text": "The PM urges 29-year-old Princeton alum O’Connor to decide immediately whether she wants a husband and children, and it sounds a lot like momsplaining to O’Connor that she definitely wants a husband and children.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A suffix combined with a descriptive adjective or noun to create a verb meaning someone who fits that description condescendingly explaining something to someone who does not fit that description (especially, something the listener has more experience of)."
      ],
      "id": "en--splain-en-suffix-KQlL8Qxz",
      "links": [
        [
          "adjective",
          "adjective#English"
        ],
        [
          "noun",
          "noun#English"
        ],
        [
          "verb",
          "verb#English"
        ],
        [
          "condescendingly",
          "condescendingly#English"
        ],
        [
          "explain",
          "explain#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) A suffix combined with a descriptive adjective or noun to create a verb meaning someone who fits that description condescendingly explaining something to someone who does not fit that description (especially, something the listener has more experience of)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-splain"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "splain"
      },
      "expansion": "splain",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "explain"
      },
      "expansion": "explain",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mansplain"
      },
      "expansion": "mansplain",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From splain, itself from explain, following the pattern of mansplain.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "suffix",
        "cat2": "",
        "cat3": "",
        "head": "",
        "id": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-splain",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "-splain",
      "name": "en-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English slang",
        "English suffixes",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2012 December 22, Bunnika, “For reblogging: No crip has to be nice to ableists”, in Cumulative notes for the Zōon Politikon, retrieved 2014-04-27",
          "text": "So please, don’t ablesplain to me. Especially when you have no idea about the context of what bigotry you’re trying to justify.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013 January 15, Dan O'Connor, “Dan Callahan Thinsplains Obesity”, in Berman Institute Bioethics Bulletin, retrieved 2013-04-28",
          "text": "You see, thinsplains Callahan, because nothing else seems to be working, we must turn to making obese people feel bad about themselves in order to shed the pounds.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 March 14, Katy Waldman, “Princeton Mom's One Saving Grace”, The XX Factor, in Slate",
          "text": "The PM urges 29-year-old Princeton alum O’Connor to decide immediately whether she wants a husband and children, and it sounds a lot like momsplaining to O’Connor that she definitely wants a husband and children.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A suffix combined with a descriptive adjective or noun to create a verb meaning someone who fits that description condescendingly explaining something to someone who does not fit that description (especially, something the listener has more experience of)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "adjective",
          "adjective#English"
        ],
        [
          "noun",
          "noun#English"
        ],
        [
          "verb",
          "verb#English"
        ],
        [
          "condescendingly",
          "condescendingly#English"
        ],
        [
          "explain",
          "explain#English"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) A suffix combined with a descriptive adjective or noun to create a verb meaning someone who fits that description condescendingly explaining something to someone who does not fit that description (especially, something the listener has more experience of)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-splain"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (82c8ff9 and f4967a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.