spic and span



spic and span

Neat and clean. A “spick” was a nail (as in “spike”), “span” was a wood shaving, and a new wooden object had shiny spicks in it and fresh spans around it. Over the years the meaning of newness was replaced by that of something fresh and clean (as a new object usually was).
See also: and, span

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Ingram['iŋgrəm]
Giosettajo-ZET-tahItalian
Abd Al-Karim-Arabic
Annalee-English (Rare)
PÓLPOLIrish
Sashi-Indian, Kannada