Phrase guide

silver spoon

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Wealth passed down or inherited.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: idiomatic, uncountable

Examples

  • He was born with a silver spoon and an upturned nose. He didn't lose the latter when he squandered the former.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the inherited wealth of established upper-class families

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth
  • she is the daughter of old money from Massachusetts

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: old money

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: inherited wealth

History

Etymology

Rooted in 18th century European table-setting customs, when diners would bring their own utensils to the meal. To distinguish themselves from serfs and peasants, members of the land-owning classes often used silver cutlery, whence the term silverware.

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Cantonese: 金鎖匙 /金锁匙 (gam1 so2 si4) — wealth passed down
  • Chinese Mandarin: 金湯匙 /金汤匙 (jīn tāngchí) — wealth passed down
  • Chinese Mandarin: 金鑰匙 /金钥匙 (jīnyàoshi) — wealth passed down
  • Finnish: hopealusikka — wealth passed down
  • Malayalam: വെള്ളിക്കരണ്ടി (veḷḷikkaraṇṭi) — wealth passed down