A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
1323 entries
spit
A spit is a ridge of sand or shingle built out from a headland into open water, growing in the direction the sediment is traveling along the coast and often hooking landward at the end where waves wrap around the tip. Behind it, sheltered water becomes salt marsh and mudflat. A spit that grows all the way across a bay and seals it becomes a bar or a baymouth barrier.
Etymology
The word is Old English and it is the same word as the spit used for roasting: a long thin pointed thing. English uses body and kitchen vocabulary for coastal landforms constantly; ness covers the headland it grows from, which is named for a nose.
Notes
A spit is a moving object with a written record of itself. It grows at the tip while the older sections consolidate, so the ridges behind the point are a set of former tips, and a spit can be read backward like tree rings.