What’s the past tense of “spit”?
| Word Form | Examples |
|---|---|
| Past Tense |
The player had spat out his mouthguard in frustration. The script had been spat out by the printer, covered in typos. The venom had been spat by the snake, poisoning its prey. The gum had been spat out onto the bottom of the desk. The cat had spat at the vacuum cleaner before running away. |
| Word | Similar words |
|---|---|
| spit | sputum, spittle, discharge, drool, slaver, dribble |
Phrases with “spit”
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| spitting at the wind | to do something pointless or futile |
| spit the dummy | to have a tantrum like a toddler so that you’d spit out your pacifier. “Dummy” is an antiquated term for soother or pacifier |
| to be within spitting-distance of | something near in proximity so that you could figuratively spit to it |
| to eat the meat and spit out the bones | to take what’s good and leave what isn’t |
| mad enough to chew nails and spit rivets | to describe someone or yourself as irate, or furious to the point of irrationality |
Origin of the verb spit
“expel saliva,” Old English spittan (Anglian), spætan (West Saxon), transitive and intransitive, past tense spytte, from Proto-Germanic spitjan, from PIE *sp(y)eu-, of imitative origin.
Worksheet: spit conjugations
He angrily ______ out the bitter-tasting coffee.
The baby is ______ up a little bit of milk, which is normal.
After taking the medicine, he had ______ it out because of the taste.
The old engine often ______ and sputters before it starts.
It is rude to ______ on the sidewalk.
FAQs
What past forms of spit are correct?
+
Are spit and spat both past tense?
+
Is ‘spitted’ the past tense of spit?
+
How is ‘spat’ used as a past participle?
+
Can ‘spat’ be used in the future tense?
+
Yash, D. "How to Use Spit or Spat (Irregular Verb Forms)." Grammarflex, Aug 24, 2025, https://grammarflex.com/spit-vs-spat/.
