# spur

> English word · Noun · IPA /spɜː/ · frequency rank #11,976

## Definitions
1. A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.
2. A jab given with the spurs.
3. Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse.
4. An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.
5. Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.
6. Roots, tree roots.
7. A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.
8. A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.
9. A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.
10. The short wooden buttress of a post.
11. A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.
12. Ergotized rye or other grain.
13. A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.
14. A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.
15. A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.
16. A branch of a vein.
17. A very short branch line of a railway line.
18. A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road.
19. A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves.

## Etymology
From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spora, spura, from Proto-West Germanic *spurō, from Proto-Germanic *spurô, from Proto-Indo-European *sperH- (“to kick”).

## Easily confused with
- **su** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-su)
- **sun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sun)
- **sub** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sub)
- **sum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sum)
- **spy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-spy)
- **sue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sue)
- **SUV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-suv)
- **sup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sup)
- **STR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-str)
- **Stu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-stu)
- **Sus** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sus)
- **Sui** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sui)
- **suh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-suh)
- **Sul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sul)
- **sud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sud)
- **sure** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-sure)
- **star** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-star)
- **stir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-stir)
- **surf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-surf)
- **stud** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/spur-vs-stud)

## Common misspellings (6)
`psur`, `sppur`, `spru`, `spurr`, `sspur`, `supr`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/spur