Spick and span

This odd expression is based on words that individually have long gone out of use in the language. Spick and span meaning smart, trim, and new dates from c. 1665 and is a shortening of ‘spick and span new’ which dates from about a hundred years earlier. The etymological origin is the Old Norse span-nyr meaning ‘span new’ where a ‘span’ refers to a wooden chip, so span-nyr literally means a new wooden chip. The word spoon derives from the same source because spoons were and still are, made from wood. The ‘spick’ part of the expression refers to a nail or spike. Thus, the original meaning of ‘spick and span new’ meant something that was newly made from new timber and new nails, but by the late 1500s, the meaning had already drifted away from anything new made from wood and nails specifically, to simply brand new. By the late 17th century, after the ‘new’ part of the expression had been dropped, the meaning of spick and span migrated from newness to clean, tidy and smart, which is what it means today.