spinnare

Spinnare is a term used in Swedish and English contexts with related but distinct meanings. In textile history and crafts, a spinnare (or spinner) is a person who converts fibers such as wool, flax, cotton, or silk into thread or yarn. Spinners work with tools including hand spindles, spinning wheels, and modern devices. The craft involves controlling fiber draft, twist, and drafting to produce yarn of a desired thickness and strength. Spinning has played a central role in many cultures and remains active today as a hobby and artisanal profession, with communities, guilds, and demonstrations around the world.

In biology, spinnare designates the silk-spinning organs of spiders. Spiders possess one or more pairs of spinnerets at the posterior end of the abdomen through which silk is extruded from specialized glands. The silk is used for a variety of purposes, including building webs, capturing prey, creating draglines for mobility, lining burrows, and forming egg sacs. Spinnerets vary in number and arrangement among species, and the silk produced can differ in fiber thickness, strength, and elasticity depending on gland type and function.

Etymology: The Swedish word derives from the verb spinna, to spin, which in turn comes from older Germanic roots. See also spinneret, spider silk, and textile spinning.