spawn

American  

[spawn] / spɔn /

noun

• spawn,
  plural
• spawns
  plural

1. Zoology. the mass of eggs deposited by fishes, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, etc.

2. Mycology. the mycelium of mushrooms, especially of the species grown for the market.

3. Usually Disparaging. a swarming brood; numerous progeny.

   Diners at the restaurant were annoyed by the two inconsiderate parents and their unruly spawn.

4. any person or thing regarded as the offspring of some stock, idea, etc.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the spawning of a character or item in a video game: the spawn rate.

   a spawn point;

   the spawn rate.

verb (used without object)

• spawns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• spawned,
  past participle,  past
• spawning
  present participle

1. to deposit eggs or sperm directly into the water, as fishes.

2. (of a character or item in a video game) to originate at a fixed point in an existing game environment.

   An enemy character just spawned right on top of me!

verb (used with object)

• spawns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• spawned,
  past participle,  past
• spawning
  present participle

1. to produce (spawn).

2. to give birth to; give rise to.

   His sudden disappearance spawned many rumors.

   Synonyms:

   beget, yield, generate, engender

3. to produce in large number.

4. to plant with mycelium.

spawn British  

/ spɔːn /

noun

1. the mass of eggs deposited by fish, amphibians, or molluscs

2. derogatory offspring, product, or yield

3. botany the nontechnical name for mycelium

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verb

1. (of fish, amphibians, etc) to produce or deposit (eggs)

2. derogatory (of people) to produce (offspring)

3. (tr) to produce or engender

spawn Scientific  

/ spôn /

1. The eggs of water animals such as fish, amphibians, and mollusks.

2. Offspring produced in large numbers.

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1. To lay eggs; produce spawn.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• spawner
  noun
• unspawned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• spawn
  plural
• spawns
  plural

Participles

• spawning
  present
• spawned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• spawn
  simple
• spawns
  simple
• have spawned
  perfect
• has spawned
  perfect
• am spawning
  progressive
• are spawning
  progressive
• is spawning
  progressive
• have been spawning
  perfect progressive
• has been spawning
  perfect progressive

Past

• spawned
  simple
• had spawned
  perfect
• was spawning
  progressive
• were spawning
  progressive
• had been spawning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will spawn
  simple
• will have spawned
  perfect
• will be spawning
  progressive
• will have been spawning
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of spawn

1350–1400; Middle English spawnen (v.), probably < Anglo-French espaundre ( Old French espandre ) to expand

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Explanation

Technically, the mass of small eggs laid by animals like fish, frogs, mollusks is called spawn. But the word has been borrowed to mean offspring, or the act of making them in general. When someone is in league with the devil, a preacher might refer to them as “Satan’s spawn.” Your dad probably find something satanic in the kids next door when he refers to them as the neighbor’s spawn. Bill Gates’ programming project in college spawned Microsoft, a multi-billion dollar industry giant.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spawn spawns spawned spawning

Warmer seas help spawn Pacific hurricanes, which have already battered Hawai‘i this year. As I write this, rhyming storms named Polo and Nolo threaten to bring flooding to Hawai‘i and Mexico.

From Slate ● Sep. 28, 2026

Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap have all faced a barrage of litigation alleging their apps have helped spawn a youth mental health crisis.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

All that hype has led to “Practical Magic” being misremembered as a movie good enough to spawn a follow-up.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

Salmon also suffered, partly because drought had affected inland rivers, where Chinook and Coho migrate to spawn, eggs hatch, and salmon fry swim back downstream to the ocean.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

And Wang Lung would not willingly let him wed in the house, because of the spawn he would breed and one like him was enough.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

The attention likely spawns detractors as well as conspiracists.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

The Severn Estuary is home to huge numbers of sprats and salmon, and the twaite shad, a protected migrating species which spawns in the tributaries of the River Severn.

From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2026

The obvious question soon spawns more intriguing ones, namely, who survived, and where did they go?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

But when that fertilizer leaches into a nearby lake, it spawns lethal algae blooms, contaminates drinking water and kills plants and fish.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2023

I had thought there were many of them in the East and the Middle West, but California spawns them like herrings.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

A serial entrepreneur himself, he is the founder of Idealab, which spawned nearly 200 startups including as many as 10 unicorns.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026

It dumped 5.62 inches of rain on L.A. over three days, spawned wind gusts of up to 65 mph and resulted in 45 deaths from flooding, with an additional 48 deaths at sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026

Earhart's disappearance spawned numerous theories - from a simple crash due to fuel exhaustion to more elaborate claims of interference.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

It also spawned a number of events centred around the Brits, with community-focused initiatives, educational engagement, networking events and other programmes held in Manchester in the weeks leading up to the ceremony.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

In the same way, the old Nantucket Yacht Club has spawned a rival, the Great Harbor Yacht Club.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

He hopes to bring a group of students to this location along the Eel River in Fortuna in the fall, when hundreds of spawning salmon stage in the calm waters before completing their journeys upstream.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026

The American pioneer vanished while attempting to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, spawning decades of speculation about her fate.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

The endangered winter-run Chinook finished spawning in August, while the spring-run, listed as threatened, start spawning in September.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

We are in a spiraling race with no endpoint that is spawning a possibly even greater threat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

Such places, the watersheds of the great coniferous forests of spruce and balsam, of hemlock and pine, provide the kind of spawning grounds that salmon must have in order to survive.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

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Related Words

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