spritz

See also: Spritz

English

Alternative forms

• shpritz

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spɹɪts/, /ʃpɹɪts/
• Rhymes: -ɪts

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Cognate with various Germanic counterparts, including German spritzen, Pennsylvania German schpritze, Yiddish שפּריץ (shprits, noun), and Yiddish שפּריצן (shpritsn, verb), and variously said (by various sources) to be borrowed from any of them; spritzer is said by some sources to be borrowed from German Spritzer, rather than being an English agent noun derived from this verb, but by surface analysis the connection is clear, even if sources do not adduce the evidence for the diachrony.

Noun

spritz (plural spritzes)

1. A sprinkling or spray of liquid; a small amount of liquid.

   Fish is good with a spritz of lemon juice.

2. (by extension) A small amount of something; a dash or jot.

Derived terms

• spritz cookie

Translations

sprinkling or spray of liquid

• German: Spritzer (de) m, Schuss (de) m

Verb

spritz (third-person singular simple present spritzes, present participle spritzing, simple past and past participle spritzed)

1. To spray, sprinkle, or squirt lightly.

   It's hard to keep hair in a specific hairdo when you just spritz only a little bit of hair spray.

   • 2013, Benjamin Nugent, Good Kids‎^[1], Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:

     “Sometimes,” he hastened to explain, looking at Khadijah and me, stroking his beard, “the fruit at Gaia is slightly rotten. That's the dark side of organic. Everything isn't spritzed with poisons to make it look neat.”

2. (impersonal, weather) To drizzle, to rain lightly.

Translations

to spray, sprinkle, or squirt lightly

• German: sprühen (de), spritzen (de)
• Hawaiian: hano
• Swedish: spraya (sv)

Etymology 2

Clipping of spritzer.

Noun

spritz (plural spritzes)

1. Synonym of spritzer (“spray bottle”).
2. Synonym of spritzer (“drink made with white wine and soda water”).

Etymology 3

From Italian spritz, a shortening of Austrian German Gespritzter (“spritzer”).

Noun

spritz (plural spritzes)

1. A cocktail consisting of prosecco, soda water, and bitters.

   Aperol spritz

   • 2019 May 9, Rebekah Peppler, “The Aperol Spritz Is Not a Good Drink”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     To build a spritz worth drinking, direct your attention first to the sparkling wine, then the aperitif bottle. In the 3:2:1 formula, sparkling wine takes up the most real estate, and most spritzes are being topped with garbage bubbles.

   • 2025 June 27, Sam Jones, “Till Jeff us do part: divisive, star-studded Bezos wedding hits full swing in Venice”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

     Friday morning found the lagoon city doing what it does best: looking gorgeous and slightly unreal as it played host to thousands of tourists who posed in silver-prowed gondolas, chugged mid-morning spritzes or simply wilted in the muggy heat.

See also

• spritzer