spareribs

[spair-ribz]

noun (used with a plural verb)

a cut of meat from the rib section, especially of pork or beef, with some meat adhering to the bones.

a dish of this meat, usually baked, roasted, or barbecued with a pungent sauce.

Origin of spareribs

1590–1600; transposed variant of earlier ribspare < Middle Low German ribbespēr rib cut; compare obsolete spare a cut, slice

Word Origin and History for spare ribs

1590s, from spare (adj.) meaning "absence of fat," or perhaps from Middle Low German ribbesper "spare ribs," from sper "spit," from Proto-Germanic *speru, from PIE *sper- "pole, spear," related to spar (n.1).