Is it spiel, shpiel, or schpiel?

Answer by  notorious (249)

Since it's a transliteration of a Yiddish word, there's no "right" answer. It sounds like "shpiel" but "schpiel" seems more in line with the transliterated spelling of Yiddish words, and "spiel" seems to be the more accepted American spelling.

Answer by  Anonymous

Some of the confusion derives from the fact that the word is both German and Yiddish. Its German spelling is "Spiel", and that's become the typical English spelling as well. The proper Yiddish transliterated spelling is "shpil". Either way you spell it, it's pronounced "shpeel".

Answer by  Sim (26)

It's spelled Spiel. And it means, basically, a speech made to convince someone of something. i. e. : "I gave my teachers the whole 'my-relative-died' spiel so I could turn in the homework late. "

Answer by  shalom (271)

If you measure what is right based on how many times the word is used on the Internet, then spiel is right, followed by shpiel, and schpiel is in last.

Answer by  x (96)

"Spiel" is the standard spelling for this word according to Webster's dictionary (meaning a pitch, sales speech, or line of extravagant talk, as in "The salesman launched into his spiel"). The other spellings are slang pronunciations and not considered standard, although either of them might be acceptable in dialogue that uses dialect spellings.

Answer by  apple (447)

Bottom line: it's spiel. But, it's pronounced shpiel.

Answer by  Anonymous

Bottom line. Right. I love it when "an answerer" decides for themselves that their own answer is of the utmost "rightness." To the best of my knowledge, its pronounced either way and the accepted spelling is spiel, but I personally prefer schpiel, even though my spell-checker says I'm mistaken. Cheers!