Meaning
Born into wealth and privilege; enjoying advantages that were inherited rather than earned. Slightly critical in tone, typically said of people whose money, connections, or education came from their family, and often contrasted with self-made people. Mildly derogatory, implying unearned advantage; never a compliment. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The image comes from the christening custom, centuries old in England, of godparents giving a child a silver spoon, the wealthiest giving whole sets of 'apostle spoons'; Shakespeare's 'Henry VIII' (1613) already jokes about godfathers sparing their spoons, and an 1893 newspaper claimed the custom went back nearly 500 years. The proverb enters English print in the early 18th century: it appears in Peter Anthony Motteux's translation of 'Don Quixote' (reported as 1712, with the citation normally given from the 1719 edition) and in a 1721 Scottish proverb collection, so it must already have been current; a 1639 English text shows an earlier variant with a penny in the mouth. Oliver Goldsmith used the silver-spoon form in 1762 ('one man is born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and another with a wooden ladle'), and in 1801 a Delaware congressman in the US House called it 'a common proverb' about lawyers.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- born with a silver spoon
- born with a silver spoon in the mouth
- silver spoon
- silver-spooned
Usage Examples
- He never worried about student loans; he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
- Despite being born with a silver spoon in her mouth, she volunteered at the shelter every weekend.
- Critics said the minister, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, had no idea how ordinary families lived.