spillikins
Apr. 16th, 2026 07:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordspillikins (SPIL-i-kinz) - n., the game of jackstraws or pick-up-sticks.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
In which a several long, thin sticks are placed in a loose pile on a flat surface and players take turns trying to remove a stick/jackstraw/spillikin without disturbing any others. Often the spillikins are straight and round, but some sets have ones with bends or flat pieces (I think we still have one with slightly wiggly snakes in the game closet). Exact origin of the name is unclear, but we have a reference from 1734 to a game called spilakees, which is suggestive -- suggestions include coined in English from spill, meaning a slender piece of something + diminutive ending -kin, and alteration of either Dutch or Flemish spelleken, small peg, both ultimately from Latin spīna, thorn.
---L.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
In which a several long, thin sticks are placed in a loose pile on a flat surface and players take turns trying to remove a stick/jackstraw/spillikin without disturbing any others. Often the spillikins are straight and round, but some sets have ones with bends or flat pieces (I think we still have one with slightly wiggly snakes in the game closet). Exact origin of the name is unclear, but we have a reference from 1734 to a game called spilakees, which is suggestive -- suggestions include coined in English from spill, meaning a slender piece of something + diminutive ending -kin, and alteration of either Dutch or Flemish spelleken, small peg, both ultimately from Latin spīna, thorn.
---L.
