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- The origin of 'spitting image' is uncertain, though it most likely evolved from 'spit,' meaning 'perfect likeness,' possibly due to the idea of a child resembling their parent so closely they were 'spit out' of their mouth.
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The origin of 'spitting image' is uncertain, though it most likely evolved from 'spit,' meaning 'perfect likeness,' possibly due to the idea of a child resembling their parent so closely they were 'spit out' of their mouth.
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Aug 5, 2023 · spitting image (n.)"exact likeness," by 1880, probably based on earlier phrases such as spit and image (1847). Uncertainty of the early forms (also spitten image, 1875; spit en image 1880, etc.) suggests it is from spit (n.1) in the "exact likeness" sense (attested by 1805) + image (n.) but conformed to present-participle forms.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Spitting image'? One of the very first questions that was asked at the Phrasefinder bulletin board was about ‘spitting image’. There have been numerous such queries there since and some ask if the term was originally ‘splitting image’, that is, deriving from the two matching parts of a split plank of wood.
As Merriam-Webster reports, the leading theory is that the phrase started out as spit and image—spit having been used to mean “exact likeness” since at least the early 19th century.
The term "spitting image" has evolved from "spit and image." In this saying, the word "spit" means a copy. It stems from the idea of creating a copy of a person by spitting, like an oral birthing or a clone.
Dec 22, 2010 · “Spitten image,” he says, refers to “a likeness that was literally spit out, but where figuratively the ‘spit’ in question involved a rather different bodily fluid.”
Dec 13, 2001 · According to word sleuths William and Mary Morris, some linguistic experts think “spit” is derived from “spirit,” noting that the southern pronunciation of the letter r is sometimes indistinct. In other words, the original would have been, “She’s the very spirit and image of her mother.”
