Word of the Day

: February 20, 2009

spume

noun SPYOOM

What It Means

: frothy matter on liquids : foam, scum

spume in Context

The spume and sea spray from the rising tide made the rocks along the beach slick and treacherous.

Did You Know?

"Spume" is a word for froth or foam that has been a part of the English lexicon for more than 600 years. An early example is found in a 14th-century quotation from the English poet John Gower: "She set a cauldron on the fire … and let it boil in such a plight, till that she saw the spume [was] white." "Spume" was borrowed from Anglo-French "espume" or "spume," and can be traced further back to Latin "spuma." "Spuma" is also akin to Old English "fām," a word that is the ancestor of the modern English "foam," a synonym of "spume." Another relative of "spuma" is "pumex," the Latin word for pumice, a volcanic rock with a somewhat foamy appearance that is formed from a rapidly cooling, frothy lava.