'splain

¹

Or splain

[spleyn]

verb (used with or without object)

Informal.

1. a shortened form of explain.

-splain

²

1. a combining form extracted from mansplain and meaning “to explain or comment on something in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner, from the perspective of the group one identifies with,” as in

   racism being whitesplained to a person of color.

Word History and Origins

Origin of 'splain¹

By shortening and alteration of explain

Example Sentences

“Somebody needs to ‘splain to people how hard it is to make a muon collider.”

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Co-host Joy Behar, who is White, said “I don’t want to White-‘splain, you might be underestimating the Black community voter,” to which Ms. Hostin replied, “I don’t think I am.”

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In a 46-page decision, Ms. Graf, who is married to a corporal in the State Police who once supervised Trooper Splain, appeared to have relied extensively on the statements of the trooper and his partner about what happened that night.

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Trooper Splain tried unsuccessfully to use his Taser; he then shot Mr. Dzwonchyk five times, twice in the head and three times in the area of his left shoulder.

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Pier Hess Graf, the district attorney of Lebanon County, Pa., spent almost 10 months in reaching the decision not to charge Trooper Jay Splain, who last fall fatally shot a motorist who had allegedly dragged another state trooper in his vehicle.

Read more on New York Times

When To Use

What does -splain mean?

The combining form -splain is used like a suffix meaning “to explain or comment on something in a condescending or overconfident manner.” It is occasionally used in slang terms. In most instances, the first element of the word describes the perspective of the "explainer," e.g., mansplain.The form -splain comes from the word mansplain, meaning “to explain something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner, typically to a woman already knowledgeable about the topic.” The form -splain in this sense is extracted from explain.