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A knife has a handle and a blade. A spoon has a handle and a... Bowl? A fork has a handle and... Spikes? Prongs?

I guess this can be extended to more esoteric cutlery such as sporks.

Adam Barnes
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    For a fork, it's prongs (in British English). – TrevorD Apr 28 '19 at 17:52
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    While we're at it, the metal part of the blade that extends into a wooden handle is called the tang. – it's a hire car baby Apr 28 '19 at 18:27
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    In AmE (at least in my experience) it’s always tines for a fork whether it’s a dinner fork or a pitchfork. Ask The Two Ronnies about the other end of fork: ️️️️... – Jim Apr 29 '19 at 05:06
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    @TrevorD - As a BrE speaker, I immediately thought "tines" (although I understand "prongs"). Is this regional? – Martin Bonner supports Monica Apr 29 '19 at 07:37
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    I'm from the North-West and have never heard "tines", but my manager, also from the North-West, thought of "tines" instantly too. – Adam Barnes Apr 29 '19 at 09:54
  • Are you asking about the non-handle part of the cutlery? I.e. if you cut it at the neck it would separate into the handle and the XXX? – CJ Dennis Apr 29 '19 at 10:57
  • I am. Here are some more words so StackExchange will let me post this comment. – Adam Barnes Apr 29 '19 at 13:11
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    Related: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/25683/what-is-a-forks-single-point-called – Henry Apr 29 '19 at 15:18
  • In fairness to the OP, I thought this might be hard to research if you don't know the terms to ask with, but my search engine immediately gave me the answer on both items, as does Wikipedia. I therefore agree with the votes to close for lack of research. – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Apr 29 '19 at 22:38
  • @MartinBonner I'm from the S.E.. I would understand 'tines', but wouldn't have thought of using that term in this context. – TrevorD Apr 29 '19 at 23:10
  • It is prongs in American English as well. – Astor Florida Apr 30 '19 at 00:56
  • Generally speaking, if something looks vaguely like a body part, then it can be called that. For example, Back Neck Shoulder Foot Toe Heel Cheek are all parts of an axe. So while "fingers" or even "teeth" are not the correct word here, it would totally be understandable. Comment cos not answer. – Criggie Apr 30 '19 at 01:22
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    @axsvl77 Eh, I'd wager tines is more common, but either is fine. – user91988 Apr 30 '19 at 14:21
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    I would call them tines. (AmE) – TaliesinMerlin Apr 30 '19 at 18:05
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    @axsvl77: do you have a source / citation for "prongs" as common AmE usage? I've always heard tines, but OTOH I haven't talked about forks with many people outside my family. (Nova Scotia, with my dad having some British English influence from his side of the family, my mom's family going back several generations in NS.) Prongs brings to mind the connector for a power plug, the blades that plug into a wall socket. (North American 120VAC 2 and 3-prong connectors without/with a ground pin.) – Peter Cordes Apr 30 '19 at 18:54
  • @PeterCordes No citation - only really called it prongs in the US Midwest. FWIW, I had never heard the word "tines" before reading this page. When I lived in NYC / New England, those in my community spoke Spanish, so not sure. – Astor Florida Apr 30 '19 at 19:03
  • @axsvl77: I'm pretty sure I've seen "tines" in the context of a pitchfork outside of my own family. Google for tines pitchfork found https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitchfork which uses "tynes" for the teeth. Apparently in some parts of England, the whole pitchfork is known as a "prong". – Peter Cordes Apr 30 '19 at 19:06
  • Every time I see this question in HNQ list I misinterpret the title as "What are the spoon bit of a spoon and fork [... now I'm thinking "Spork"] bit of a fork [... now I'm thinking "huh?"] called?". I edited the title to include punctuation to make the intent clear but it got rejected as "not making it easier to read". Oh well, guess I'll have to keep tripping up over it then. – Vicky May 01 '19 at 15:52
  • I agree with you on that, @Vicky - do I have more power to edit the title as the original author? – Adam Barnes May 01 '19 at 15:56
  • @AdamBarnes I don't know! You could try, I guess, but I think it would still have to be approved. – Vicky May 01 '19 at 16:36
  • Possible duplicate of What is a fork's single point called? – mattdm May 01 '19 at 21:02
  • This is really two questions, one of which has an existing answer. – mattdm May 01 '19 at 21:02

4 Answers4

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A spoon has a bowl. A fork merges at its neck into a root carrying prongs or tines

Parts of a fork
Parts of a spoon
Source: Visual dictionary online 1 and 2

KillingTime
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Hitch-22
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  • According to the image, the merge would happen at the root, with the root connected to the neck. It doesn't merge at the neck. – jpmc26 Apr 29 '19 at 19:01
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    I'm surprised the word prong isn't on the fork image at all. – Astor Florida Apr 30 '19 at 00:57
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    As a slight aside: With a neck on both a spoon and fork, it certainly wouldn't seem misplaced to call anything beyond that the "head." I've definitely heard them called that before. – Dan Apr 30 '19 at 13:12
  • Never thought there was such an intricate disection of simple cutlery... Interesting. – paddotk Apr 30 '19 at 13:32
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    @poepje Companies that make spoons probably don't find it strange. They have to call each part something. – user91988 Apr 30 '19 at 14:22
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    It's worth noting that most people won't be familiar with most of these terms, though that's more because people don't often talk about the anatomy of cutlery than because there are any more familiar terms. – Hearth Apr 30 '19 at 14:54
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Bowl:

the hollow of a spoon

(M-W)

Parts of a spoon

(visualdictionaryonline.com)

KillingTime
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user 66974
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    Duplicate of the answer above. – ə̷̶̸͇̘̜́̍͗̂̄︣͟ Apr 29 '19 at 07:31
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    @TheSimpliFire "above" and "below" are unreliable ways to refer to answers on SE. The order can change depending on voting. (In this case, probably not because the answer from Hitch-22 answers both parts of the question; but as a general rule: beware.) – Martin Bonner supports Monica Apr 29 '19 at 07:39
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    This answer came in after the other, but the other answer was very different. It didn't have this image, for instance. – Adam Barnes Apr 29 '19 at 08:37
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    @TheSimpliFire from the edit history, at the time this answer was posted the other answer not only had no image or reference but in fact gave a different answer for the spoon ("head" rather than "bowl"). – Especially Lime Apr 29 '19 at 08:37
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More generally, the part of any implement that performs its function is known as the business end.

Merriam-Webster:
[T]he end with, from, or through which a thing's function is fulfilled

American Heritage Dictionary:
The part of a weapon or tool, usually at the front, that inflicts damage or performs work.

Tom Zych
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In Dutch we called the pointy end of the fork the "teeth". Wikipedia also lists this usage in English with respect to pitchforks (emphasis by editor):

Tines (also tynes), prongs or teeth are parallel or branching spikes forming parts of a tool or natural object.

[...]

Tines may be blunt, such as those on a fork used as an eating utensil; or sharp, as on a pitchfork; or even barbed, as on a trident.

Community
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Rien Timmer
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