Spiel
/ʃpiːl/noun
A long, often persuasive or rehearsed speech or sales pitch.
Did you know?English spiel comes from German Spiel, meaning “play” or “game,” and the same root also gave us the idea of a staged performance — words as a kind of acted-out spell.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*spilą
“play, game”
Old High German
OHG
spil
“play, game, entertainment”
Middle High German
MHG
spil
“play, game, performance”
German
DE
Spiel
“play, game”
19th Century
English
spiel
“a speech or performance, especially a slick or lengthy sales pitch”
Modern English
English
spiel
“a rehearsed or persuasive speech”