German word

spanen

Pronunciation

IPA/ˈʃpaːnən/

Meaning

  • verbplane

Example

Der Schreiner will das Brett mit dem Hobel spanen.

The carpenter wants to plane the board using a plane.

Illustration for spanen (plane)

More examples

Beim Renovieren musste ich das überstehende Holz spanen.

While renovating, I had to plane the protruding wood.

Core concept

A tool scrapes a hard workpiece and produces a visible trail of small curls or flakes.

Common phrases

  • überstehendes Holz spanen

    plane protruding wood

Similar words

hobeln: Level a wooden surface with a plane and produce fine shavings.
schleifen: Smooth material through rubbing with sandpaper or a powered abrasive tool.
raspeln: Roughly scrape a surface with a rasp and create coarse shavings.
feilen: Fine-tune a surface by filing away small ridges or burrs.

Definition in German

spanen — mit einem Werkzeug dünne Späne von einem festen Material abtrennen.

Word origin

German formed spanen from the noun Span, the name for a chip removed during cutting.

Usage tips

  • In ordinary woodworking, hobeln is usually more natural than the technical verb spanen when the tool is a plane.

Other meanings

  • machineverb
  • shaveverb

Opposites

  • auffüllenfill inverb

Related words

  • spanendcuttingadjective

Word lists with this word