The word 'sprit' entered English in the 14th century from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German sprēt, meaning a pole or a spear. This Germanic root is related to the Old English sprēot (a pole) and shares a deeper ancestry with the Proto-Germanic sprēut-, meaning "to sprout," drawing a metaphorical link between a growing shoot and a long, slender pole. Over centuries, its use became specialized within nautical terminology, referring specifically to the diagonal spar that supports a sail, maintaining its core sense of a long, rigid rod while applying it to a precise function on sailing vessels.

This word is a simplex. It is a loanword from a Germanic language (Middle Dutch or Middle Low German) where it functioned as a single, unanalyzable unit meaning "pole" or "spear."