spavined

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective (of horses) afflicted with a swelling of the hock-joint

Etymology

From Late Middle English spaueyned, from spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”) + -ed (suffix forming adjectives; and the past tense and past participle forms of weak verbs). By surface analysis, spavin + -ed (suffix forming possessional adjectives from nouns, denoting having the objects represented by the nouns; and forming past tenses of regular verbs).

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