Spoon is a basic eating tool with a small, shallow bowl at one end of a handle, designed for scooping up liquids and soft foods. You use a spoon to eat soup, cereal, ice cream, or yogurt. Unlike a fork, which pierces food, or a knife, which cuts it, a spoon gathers and holds food in its curved bowl shape.

People have used spoons for thousands of years, making them from wood, bone, shells, and eventually metal. Today, most spoons are made of stainless steel or plastic.

Different spoons serve different purposes. A teaspoon is small, perfect for stirring tea or coffee and measuring ingredients while cooking. A tablespoon is larger and used for eating or serving food. A soup spoon has a rounder, deeper bowl than a regular spoon.

The phrase silver spoon appears in the saying “born with a silver spoon in your mouth,” which describes someone born into a wealthy family. To spoon-feed someone can mean literally feeding them with a spoon, or it can mean helping them so much that they don't learn to do things themselves.

As a verb, spoon can mean to scoop or serve something with a spoon.