spindle C2+ Topic:Weather & Climate US /ˈspɪndəl/ UK /ˈspɪndəl/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a slender rod used to twist and wind thread in spinning The wool wound tightly around the turning spindle. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a slender rod used to twist... rodaxleshaftpinarbor Word family Derived forms spindly Related forms spin Etymology AI details From Old English spinel ('spindle'), from spinnan ('to spin') + the instrumental suffix -el, with an intrusive -d-. spinel Old English spinnan Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Weather & Climate External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # spindle **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈspɪndəl/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈspɪndəl/ ## Meanings 1. a slender rod used to twist and wind thread in spinning ## Examples - The wool wound tightly around the turning spindle. ## Synonyms - rod - axle - shaft - pin - arbor ## Derived Forms - spindly ## Related Forms - spin ## Roots and Affixes - Root: spinel - Root: spinnan ## Etymology From Old English spinel ('spindle'), from spinnan ('to spin') + the instrumental suffix -el, with an intrusive -d-. ## AI Etymology Spindle comes from Old English spinel ('spindle'), from spinnan ('to spin') + the instrumental suffix -el, with an intrusive -d-. The historical chain includes Old English spinel and Old English spinnan. Older glosses in the chain include "spindle" and "to spin", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, spindle is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "a slender rod used to twist and wind thread in spinning". English derivatives include spindly; related forms include spin. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning. ## Topics - Weather & Climate markdown