Spittle is the saliva that collects in your mouth or sprays out when you talk forcefully, cough, or sneeze. When someone gets very angry and shouts, you might see little droplets of spittle flying from their mouth. When you're sleeping deeply, spittle might pool at the corner of your lips.

The word has an unpleasant quality to it, which makes sense because spittle isn't something most people want to see or think about. You'd use the word saliva in a scientific context, like when learning how digestion begins in your mouth, but you'd use spittle when describing something messier or less controlled.

A baby who hasn't learned to swallow properly yet might have spittle on their chin. An excited storyteller might accidentally spray a tiny bit of spittle while describing the most thrilling part of their tale. The word appears often in older literature, where an angry character might be described as speaking “with spittle flying” to show just how furious they are.