span

CEFRB2

/spæn/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The length of time or distance between two points.

  2. 02

    verb

    To continue across a period or cover an area.

Examples

  • I worked with him over a span of six years.

  • Thanks to these discoveries, man's life span has become twice as long as before.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /span/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A small space or a brief portion of time.

  2. Any of various traditional units of length approximating this distance, especially the English handspan of 9 inches forming ⅛ fathom and equivalent to 22.86 cm.

  3. The full width of an open hand from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger used as an informal unit of length.

More examples

In context

  • The bridge has a span of 100 meters.

  • He has a short attention span and gets bored within minutes.

  • The parking lot spans three acres.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The new bridge will blank the wide river and connect the two towns.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English spanne, from Old English spann, from Proto-Germanic *spannō (“span, handbreadth”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”). Cognate with Dutch span, spanne, German Spanne. The sense “pair of horses” is probably from Old English ġespan, ġespann (“a joining; a fastening together; clasp; yoke”), from Proto-West Germanic [Term?]. Cognate with Dutch gespan, German Gespann.