Sprekkes

Sprekkes is a nonstandard term found in some dialects of Dutch and Afrikaans that describes small cracks or fissures in solid materials. It is not a widely standardized word and does not appear in major dictionaries; usage is typically regional or confined to niche communities such as studio pottery, materials conservation, or field geology. Because it is dialectal and context-dependent, its exact meaning can vary by speaker.

In ceramics, sprekkes may refer to hairline cracks in glaze or clay that form during firing or cooling when there is a mismatch in thermal expansion. When such cracks are intentional and form a decorative network, the effect is commonly known in English as crackle glaze or craquelure.

In geology or geomorphology, the term can appear informally to describe fine fissures or split lines in rock or ice, though specialists usually prefer more precise terms like microfractures or crevasses. The use of sprekkes in these contexts is typically metaphorical or regional rather than technical.

Because sprekkes is not a standardized technical term, readers should rely on the surrounding text to determine whether it refers to accidental surface cracks, decorative crack patterns, or a general notion of fracture. In formal writing or cross-dialect communication, it is advisable to substitute more widely understood terms such as cracks, fissures, or craquelure where appropriate.

See also: craquelure, crack (fracture), fissure, microfracture.