splain

See also: -splain

English

Alternative forms
  • 'splain

Pronunciation
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Etymology 1

Aphetic form of explain

Verb

splain (third-person singular simple present splains, present participle splaining, simple past and past participle splained)

  1. (informal, dialectal) Aphetic form of explain.
    • 1881, Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus:
      "Howsomever, dey 'ranged der 'fairs, en splained der bizness."
    • 1905, R. F. Foster, “In Self Defence”, in The Bookman, volume 21:
      "Why, Lor' bless you, I never knew nothing about the rights of them things till you splained them to me yesterday, boss."
    • 1947, John Avery Lomax, Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, page 195:
      "Den," he confided, "I 'splained to de release man 'bout lookin' fur a settin'-down job, an' he jes' sorta motioned to de do'."

Etymology 2

Partly from the preceding sense, partly from -splain (after mansplaining).

Verb

splain (third-person singular simple present splains, present participle splaining, simple past and past participle splained)

  1. (slang) To condescendingly explain something, often extensively, especially to someone that knows more about it; for example, to mansplain, whitesplain, etc.
    • 2019, Jennifer Brown, How to Be an Inclusive Leader: Creating Trust, Cooperation, and Community across Differences‎, Berrett-Koehler, →ISBN, page 35:
      Those who splain may have the intent of helping the situation, but the actual impact of their actions can feel condescending or insulting.

References

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