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spermato-[spermato- 词源字典]: before vowels spermat-, word-forming element meaning "seed, sperm," used from 1880s in scientific compounds, from Greek sperma (genitive spermatos "seed" of an animal or plant; see sperm).[spermato- etymology, spermato- origin, 英语词源]
spermatogenesis (n.): 1877, earlier in German, from comb. form of Greek sperma "seed" of an animal or plant (see sperm) + -genesis "birth, origin, creation."
spermatozoa (n.): plural of spermatozoon, 1836.
spermatozoon (n.): (plural spermatozoa), "male sexual cell," 1836, from spermato- + Greek zoion "animal" (see zoo-). Related: Spermatozoal.
spermicide (n.): 1929; see sperm + -cide. Earlier was spermacide (1908) and spermaticide (1923), from French, where it is recorded by 1876.
spessartite (n.): manganese garnet, 1853, earlier spessartine (1837), from French spessartine (1832), from Spessart, district in Bavaria where it is found.
spew (v.): Old English spiwan "spew, spit," from Proto-Germanic *spiew- (cognates: Old Saxon spiwan, Old Norse spyja, Old Frisian spiwa, Middle Dutch spijen, Dutch spuwen, Old High German spiwan, German speien, Gothic spiewan "to spit"), from PIE *sp(y)eu- "to spew, spit," probably ultimately of imitative origin (cognates: Latin spuere; Greek ptuein, Doric psyttein; Old Church Slavonic pljuja, Russian plevati; Lithuanian spiauti). Also in Old English as a weak verb, speowan. Related: Spewed; spewing.
spew (n.): "vomited matter," c. 1600, from spew (v.).
sphagnum (n.): genus of mosses, peat-moss, 1741, Modern Latin, from Latin sphagnos, a kind of lichen, from Greek sphagnos "a spiny shrub, a kind of moss," of unknown origin. Related: Sphagnous.
spheno-: before vowels sphen-, word-forming element meaning "wedge," from comb. form of Greek sphen "a wedge," probably cognate with Old Norse spann "splinter," Old English spon "chip of wood" (see spoon (n.)).
sphenoid (adj.): 1732, from spheno- + -oid. As a noun from 1828. Related: Sphenoidal.
sphere (n.): mid-15c., Latinized spelling of Middle English spere (c. 1300) "cosmos; space, conceived as a hollow globe about the world," from Anglo-French espiere, Old French espere (13c., Modern French sphère), from Latin sphaera "globe, ball, celestial sphere" (Medieval Latin spera), from Greek sphaira "globe, ball, playing ball, terrestrial globe," of unknown origin.

From late 14c. in reference to any of the supposed concentric, transparent, hollow, crystalline globes of the cosmos believed to revolve around the earth and contain the planets and the fixed stars; the supposed harmonious sound they made rubbing against one another was the music of the spheres (late 14c.). Also from late 14c. as "a globe; object of spherical form, a ball," and the geometric sense "solid figure with all points equidistant from the center." Meaning "range of something, place or scene of activity" is first recorded c. 1600 (as in sphere of influence, 1885, originally in reference to Anglo-German colonial rivalry in Africa).
spherical (adj.): 1520s, from sphere + -ical. Related: Spherically. A spherical number (1640s) is one whose powers always terminate in the same digit as the number itself (5, 6, and 10 are the only ones).
spheroid (n.): "body resembling, but not identical with, a sphere," 1560s, from Latin sphaeroides, from Greek sphairoeides "ball-like, spherical," from sphaira (see sphere) + -oeides "form" (see -oid). As an adjective from 1767. Related: Spheroidal.
sphincter (n.): 1570s, from Middle French sphincter, from Late Latin sphincter "contractile muscle," from Greek sphinkter "band, lace, anything that binds tight," from sphingein "to squeeze, bind," of unknown origin. First used in anatomical sense by Galen. There are several in the body; the one usually meant is the sphincter ani.
sphinx (n.): monster of Greek mythology having a lion's (winged) body and a woman's head; she waylaid travelers around Thebes and devoured those who could not answer her questions; Oedipus solved the riddle and the Sphinx killed herself. In English from early 15c., from Latin Sphinx, from Greek Sphinx, said to mean literally" the strangler," a back-formation from sphingein "to squeeze, bind" (see sphincter).

There also was an Egyptian form (usually male and wingless); in reference to this it is attested in English from 1570s; specific reference to the colossal stone one near the pyramids as Giza is attested from 1610s. Transferred sense of "person or thing of mysterious nature" is from c. 1600. The proper plural would be sphinges. As adjectives in English, sphingal, sphingian, sphingine, sphinxian, sphinxine, and sphinx-like all have been tried.
sphygmo-: word-forming element meaning "pulse," from comb. form of Greek sphygmos "a pulse," from sphyzein "to throb, pulse, beat."
sphygmomanometer (n.): 1891, from sphygmo- "pulse" + manometer.
spic (n.): derogatory for "Latino person," 1913, from cliche protestation, No spick English. Earlier spiggoty (1910 "speak-a the ..."); the term is said to have originated in Panama during the canal construction. But it also was applied from an early date to Italians, and some have suggested an alteration of spaghetti.
Spica (n.): 1728, bright star in constellation Virgo, from Latin, literally "ear of grain" (see spike (n.2)); corresponding to Greek stakhys. As the ancients visualized the constellation, she held an ear of grain.