spiv
/spɪv/noun
spiv is spelled S-P-I-V: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 161,690th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spiv means “A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spiv is spivs.
How many letters and syllables are in spiv?
| Letters | 4: S-P-I-V |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 28 million words; the 161,690th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is spiv?
Spiv appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 161,690th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce spiv?
- /spɪv/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-spiv.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of spiv
- spivs plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spiv mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
IrelandUKA smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.
- 2
IrelandUKdatedA flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.
- 3
IrelandUKdatedA low and common thief.
- 4
IrelandUKdatedA slacker; one who shirks responsibility.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does spiv come from?
Unknown. Perhaps from spiff, spiffy. Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv (“sparrow”), as active and opportunistic.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).