What is a synonym for "spay"?

Common synonyms include: castrate, neuter, alter, alter, castrate, emasculate.

Spay

//speɪ// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
The act of spaying an animal.
"I was queasy about my first spay of a far-gone feral and left it up to my vet."
2
Rare spelling of spayard. alt-of, rare

Verb

1
To destroy or remove the ovaries or uterus (of a female animal) to prevent pregnancy. transitive
"We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens."
2
Alternative form of spae (to foretell or divine) alt-of, alternative
3
remove the ovaries of wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

castrate neuter alter alter castrate emasculate

Example

More examples

"We’re having our cat spayed as we don’t want her having kittens."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English spayen, spaien, from the Anglo-Norman espeier, equivalent to the Old French espeer (“to cut with a sword”), from espee (“sword”), whence the Modern French épée.

Etymology 2

See spayard.

More for "spay"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.